Sir: Once again, the monsoon season is upon us with its ferocious nature. The rivers and canals are swelling & overflowing with rain water. To worsen the situation, India has diverted its excess water into Chenab River. Flood warnings have been issued. More than 200 villages have been swept away by floods in Sialkot, Gujrat, Zafarwal, Lasbella and Dadu. Many bridges, overheads and roads have been damaged. People have been asked to leave for safer places. There is a forecast of more rain in these areas. Moreover, the rain spell is continuing throughout the country, adding to the casualties. The rivers throughout the country are flowing at dangerously high levels.
The situation is not different from preceding years. Every year during the monsoon season, the same situation is witnessed causing devastation across the country. But ignorance on the part of authorities to reduce the damages is perplexing. The floods cause damages worth billions of rupees by destroying crops and other infrastructure. Apart from creating the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the authorities have not done anything to reduce the damages and avoid this catastrophic situation every year. A chain of small to medium capacity dams should have been built to store the floodwater. But the misplaced priorities of our leaders has resulted in no progress.
On the one hand, people suffer from drought and on the other due to flood waters. We have no mechanism in place to tackle such calamities, through which we could channelize the flood waters. Proper planning and a long-term vision for executing the plans is the need of the hour.
The government must form a Commission of experts to deal with the overflow of flood waters and formulate a comprehensive plan to devise ways and means to tame the flood waters. Moreover, efforts should be made to reduce the effects of climate change. Most of the natural tragedies that Pakistan have witnessed in recent times have been attributed to the climate change.
JAVAID BASHIR
Karachi