KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to start a crackdown against all criminals and dacoits taking ‘Bhatta’ from contractors repairing dykes in the flood-affected areas of the province.Sindh Revenue Minister Jam Mehtab Daher while responding to a point of order during the Sindh Assembly (SA) session on delays and substandard work of dykes in the province on Wednesday, said that the repair work of dykes was monitored closely. He said the Sindh government would not compromise on substandard work of dykes in flood-affected areas along with the Indus River.The house met at 10.15am on Wednesday with Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro in the chair.Talking on a point of order, opposition lawmaker Nusrat Sehar Abbasi said that dykes repair committee had shown his dissatisfaction over the repair work of embankments. While committee chairman Dr Ahmed Ali Shah had clarified that he did not say about substandard work. He identified delays in repair work of dykes.Dr Shah said that the repair work was delayed by two and half months, which should start early.He pointed out that floods in Punjab affected only one district but the federal government had provided funds immediately while the local people also helped the Punjab government in this regard.Jam Mehtab said the Sindh government would not compromise on substandard repair work of dykes that was why Dr Shah was made chairman of the committee to monitor the repair work.In this regard, he said the services of former secretary irrigation and consultant Syed Rajput were also acquired. He said some elements were creating law and order problems in the area instead of accommodating the repair works.Speaker Nisar Khuhro said that on his visit to Larkana, he did not heard any repair work of dykes. “Till yesterday no repair work was seen and if any repair work started on Wednesday morning then I have no information about it.
People fear that water from Tarbela Dam in April may further affect the flood affected areas.”Law Minister Ayaz Somroo said repair work of dykes had been started and President Asif Ali Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah had formed committees in this regard while tenders had been finalised for Larkana and the repair work would be started from today (Thursday).Replying to a question, Irrigation Minister Saiflullah Dharejo said that the Kalabagh Dam was dead issue and the SA had passed three resolutions against it.He said the Sindh government had written a letter on Dec 29, last year to the federal government regarding the reservations of Sindh over Kalabagh Dam issue.He said the recent floods had put financial burden of Rs18 billion on the Sindh government. Rs 2.5 billion have slashed the irrigation department budget – Dailytimes
