HYDERABAD: Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon giving details of losses in recent rains informed that 402 people had died and 1055 people had been injured in the province. He said according to preliminary estimates, a total loss of Rs 860 billion had been caused in Sindh due to the devastations of rains.

In his statement today, the Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has said that there were unusual rains in this monsoon as 308 percent more than the average rains were recorded in July and 784 percent more than the average rains in August, 2022 were recorded.

Sharjeel Inam Memon said that the flood of 2010 affected the right bank of the River Indus and the rains/flood of 2011 affected the left bank of the River Indus while monsoon 2022 had badly affected all 30 districts of the province. He said that after heavy rains, Sindh was under high-level flood as flow of more than 550,000 cusecs of flood was passing through the barrages in Sindh. He said that inundation of entire Katcha areas made thousands of families homeless. He said that about 1.5 million houses of estimated cost of Rs 450 billion had been affected, 11734 cattle of Rs 903.96 million had been killed while standing crops of Rs 335.44 billion on 3,171,726 acres of land had been destroyed.

He said 100% of the cotton crop on 1,467,579 acres of land had also been destroyed and its loss was estimated as Rs 205,461.06. Similarly 100% crop of date palm of estimated cost of Rs 7096.53 million on 101,379 acres of land had been affected while 21.78% of the standing crop of sugarcane of estimated cost of Rs 11,918.7 million on 158,916 acres and 71.46% of the rice crop of estimated cost of Rs 52,100.37 million on 1,063,273 acres had been destroyed.

He said apart from this, Kharif vegetables, tomatoes, chillies, onions and other crops had also been damaged which cost billions of rupees loss to growers.

He said that 570 roads of 2281.5 km length had been affected, causing a loss of Rs 22.8 billion while in Hyderabad Division 843.5 km long 101 roads and 20 bridges had been affected. Similarly, in Sukkur Division, 1002 km long 256 roads and 18 bridges had been destroyed and 136.8 km 125 roads in Shaheed Benazirabad had been damaged. He informed that in Larkana division 12 roads of 96 km and 6 bridges and in Mirpurkhas, 146.22 km long 23 roads had been affected.

He said that the infrastructure including roads, bridges and drainage system in Karachi Division has been severely damaged and loss was estimated to be more than Rs 50 billion.

He said that the infrastructure including roads, bridges and drainage system in Karachi Division has been severely damaged and loss was estimated to be more than Rs 50 billion.

Giving details of rescue and relief work, he said that rescue and relief activities were in full swing in the province and these activities were being monitored by Chief Minister Sindh. He said that Pakistan Army, Navy and Air Force were fully helping the civil administration in this difficult time in relief operations. He said that to provide shelter to rain/flood affected people one million tents, 3 million mosquito nets, 0.5 million plastic mats, 0.5 woolen mattresses, 1 million tarpaulin sheets, one million kitchen sets and other items were needed while it was estimated that two millions ration bags for two months were required.

He informed that so far, the Sindh government had provided 95,770 tents, 163,295 mosquito nets, 45,960 plastic tarpaulins, 3,820 folding beds and other equipment to the affected people, while 52,000 ration bags had been distributed among the affected people.

He said that NDMA had provided 8,658 tents, 1900 community shelters, 3780 ration bags, 7461 mosquito nets, 10877 tarpaulins, 1000 blankets and other essential items to the Sindh government. He said that Sindh government would compensate the losses of lives and properties caused by the monsoon rains. He said that compensation for the damages to the houses and crops in the affected areas would be approved while Sindh government would take measures to waive off interest on agricultural loans and reschedule installment payments by deferring them for at least one year. He said that subsidy grants would also be provided to growers on agricultural machinery, fertilizers, pesticides and seeds.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022