Daily Times

Spokesperson for Balochistan government Farrah Azeem Shah on Wednesday said that torrential rains and flood washed away road infrastructure in the province which caused hurdle to reach out all affected areas.

Talking to a private news channel, she said the provincial government has completed rescue process and relief activities were underway to compensate as early as possible on the direction of chief minister Balochistan.

She said the Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo was himself monitoring situation in flood area and canceled all of his pre-occupations in the time of calamity and asked others come forward to serve people in true spirit.

Farrah further said the management has reached every affected area due to flood now, and has started the rehabilitation process after facing many difficulties.

“The powerful floods had disconnected Balochistan from the rest of the country as all roads and railway network connecting Balochistan had been damaged in most parts in the province and washed away livestock and houses at large scale,” she said.

The provincial government has issued the direction to identify the losses and damages and rescue the people on war footing basis and asked people to help as much as they can in this difficult time.

The Balochistan government also justified airdropping of relief items in flood-hit areas, saying that due to no landing area and rough hilly terrain, relief packets were airdropped.

Balochistan government’s denial came after the video of airdropping of relief supplies that went viral on social media platforms.

“The helicopter has continuously been engaged in air operations for rescue activities since the beginning of the relief operation,” the statement said, adding that the operation remained continued even in the most adverse weather and conditions.

Due to the lack of landing facilities and overflowing floodwaters, helicopters made several difficult landings on roads to reach victims in areas where land access was not possible.

About the viral video, it clarified that there was a difficult mountain pass where it was extremely dangerous to fly or land low, which could have destroyed the helicopter and killed its crew.

“Several attempts were made for landing but failing that it was decided to airdrop relief supplies to the victims at low speed and altitude,” it said.

The statement further said that Balochistan’s helicopter crews are among the best air crews in the country who are engaged in rescue operations day and night.

“Making videos and criticizing while sitting at home is very easy but working in field is quite a different job,” it said. The statement said that baseless criticism will demoralize people engaged in relief operations.