Heavy rain and flood in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Friday said the abnormal monsoon torrential rains caused the heaviest floods in the country’s history that submerged many parts of the southern region.
She was speaking during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change, which was presided over by MNA Nuzhat Pathan. Sherry stated that the situation was dire since rains had not stopped, with up to 1,100 millimetres falling in numerous flood-affected areas, and that “30 districts of Sindh have been drowned, and this committee should take notice of that.”
The minister emphasised that it was a natural calamity, but that it was brought about by unchecked manmade activities. She also stated that communication with Balochistan had been severed, adding, “Our helicopters are reaching the afflicted areas, but they are returning due to inclement weather.” Many people were stuck in the devastated areas, and the authorities had no idea where to draw the collected water, according to Sherry Rehman.
Secretary Ministry of Climate Change Asif Haider Shah also briefed the committee on the mandate of the ministry in the prevailing scenario and presented his suggestions to the forum. MNA Murtaza Javed Abbasi raised the issue of crushing plants installed at the Margalla Hills National Park and Khanpur Dam areas.
Inspector General of Forest, Ministry of Climate Change Ghulam Qadir Shah told the committee that there were 31 crush plants functional as of now in the region and 11 of them were registered and the rest were illegal. “We have closed down several crush plants and cases of five crushing plants are also under trial in the Supreme Court.”
He emphasised that the Afghan mafia was behind the experience. “We raised our voices during the assembly because small children are losing 30% of their hearing and people have been protesting the plants for the past two years.” The crushing waste is flowing into Khanpur Dam as a result of the rains,” he added. The Afghans were permitted by the provincial administration and were members of a powerful mafia, while the crushing factories were shut down for 30 days at the request of the Chief Secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chairperson Committee said the people were getting sick from these crushing plants and many diseases, including eye cancer were occurring among the masses of the locality. The chairperson summoned the KP Chief Secretary and directed that the next meeting would be held in the same area and also called the Ministry of Water Resources to participate in the meeting. Rains
