Karachi
The Sindh government has imposed Section 144 to “forcibly” evacuate people from the Katcha areas, while troops have been deployed in the vulnerable areas on Sunday morning as the flood rescue operation comes in full swing.
The Managing Director of Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Mohammed Salih Farooqui, told The News on Sunday that Section 144 had been imposed to ensure that the people complied with the evacuation orders.
He said the government would ensure 100 percent evacuation.
To a question, he said the flood was likely to affect over 200,000 people in upper Sindh.
Farooqui said that 80 villages in Larkana and 20 to 22 in Sukkur, Kashmore, Ghotki and Shikarpur were likely to be affected.
He said children, women and elders were being shifted to safer places but some youngsters were showing reluctance in moving out.
The PDMA head said that at least 50 sensitive locations on Guddu and Sukkur barrages were being monitored.
According to an ISPR statement, Army contingents had been dispatched to the vulnerable areas in Sindh on Sunday following a request from the provincial government.
According to the statement, heavy contingents of the Pakistan Army had moved from Hyderabad and Pano Aqil garrisons to Kandh Kot, Larkana, Naushero Feroz, Dadu, Nawabshah (Benazirabad) and Thatta early Sunday morning.
Two more contingents from the Pano Aqil garrison moved to Ghotki and Khairpur districts later in the afternoon.
Troops would remain in the respective areas till the flood situation improved in Sindh.
Besides, sufficient contingents were on standby at the Malir, Hyderabad and Pano Aqil garrisons, which can be deployed at a short notice.
Lt. Hasan Imam of the ISPR told The News that the troops were equipped with motorboats, lifesaving jackets, dewatering pumps etc.
Meanwhile, speaking at a press conference at the Sindh Secretariat on Sunday afternoon, the chief minister’s adviser on information, Jameel Ahmed Soomro, said that Rs25 million had been released for the health department.
He said the DCOs concerned would decide whether to open schools on Monday or not when the summer vacations ended. The government intended to establish relief camps at the schools.
Irrigation and power minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo said 16 people had been deployed at a distance of a mile each to monitor the embankments while police pickets established at every two miles.
He said there were certain areas, Jacobabad for example, where the security situation was volatile due to tribal clashes.
Dharejo said that the vulnerable areas were spread over 1,200 kilometers with hundreds of thousands of people there.
He said that 20 to 30 percent people had voluntarily moved to safer places.
The irrigation minister said that unlike the situation in 1976 when a super flood had swept the province with 1.2 million cusecs of water flowing into the Guddu barrage then, the provincial government today faced “many challenges” as the embankments had grown weaker.
Dharejo said that the capacity of the Guddu barrage, 1.5 million cusecs, had reduced to 900,000 cusecs because of some “technical reasons”.
The government feared that over one million cusecs of water would reach the Guddu barrage in the next few days, he said.
He urged the philanthropists to come forward and assist the Sindh government in its relief activities.
Meanwhile, sources said that dunes had developed in the barrages because of alleged negligence of the authorities concerned.
They apprehended that when water flowed into Sindh, its direction might change after hitting sandbanks or mounds.
The sources said that the riverbed, especially that of the Sukkur barrage, had been reduced due to settlements and encroachments in the city.
Meanwhile, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, federal minister for commerce, was monitoring the arrangements being made by the Sindh government to deal with the floods.
The minister, who had been in touch with the chief minister, underlined the need for taking fool-proof measures for safeguarding the lives and properties of the people in the Katcha areas.
The minister had also established a cell in Karachi to collect moment-to-moment information on the flood situation.