KARACHI: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that as unprecedented five spells of monsoon rains have badly affected people in 13 districts of Sindh; therefore our priority is to protect the affected people in the first phase and then to rehabilitate them with a relief package.

He asked the provincial government to mobilize its resources to support the affected people by providing them tents, mosquito nets, drinking water, cooked and uncooked food, healthcare facilities, and vaccination of cattle heads.

He gave these directives to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah while presiding over a special meeting to review the losses and damages caused by heavy rains here at CM House.

Bilawal said that the ongoing rains have inundated thousands of villages and towns in 13 districts in Sindh, affecting a large number of people, whose proper care is the responsibility of our government in Sindh.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told the meeting that during the last 24 hours, Sanghar has received 319 mm rainfall followed by Umerkot with 172 mm, Shaheed Benazirabad 162mm, Kambar-Shahdadkot 158mm, Tando Allahyar 150mm, Hyderabad 142mm, Khairpur 135mm, Larkana 127mm, Naushero Feroze 112mm and Tharparkar 105mm. He said that the heavy rains have claimed 166 lives and injured 573 others. He added that 2,849 cattle heads have perished, 47,399 houses were damaged, including 6,489 fully and 40,910 partially, and standing crops over an area of 810,683 acres were washed away/ damaged.

He said 1,002-km of roads, 256 roads, and 18 bridges have been damaged by the heavy rains all over Sindh. He added that his government has declared nine districts as calamity-hit areas and four more districts were being declared so.

Murad Ali Shah said that as per rough estimates the rehabilitation of the affected people would cost around Rs40 billion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022