Flood rehabilitation: Planning minister directs stakeholders to initiate work

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Prof Ahsan Iqbal on Monday directed the stakeholders to immediately start work on rehabilitation, particularly in education, health, infrastructure and other sectors which have been affected badly by the recent floods.

The minister made these remarks while speaking at an event, “An overview and findings of the Rural Poor Stimulus Facility (RPSF) - Waseela-e-Khurak, pilot project” which was organised by the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives.

He regretfully said that during the last four years the previous government did not spend a single penny from the National Flood Protection Programme which was started for developing an integrated flood management system, as a result the country is facing the worst calamity.

The National Flood Protection Programme was started for developing an integrated flood management system by focusing on reservoir operations, flood forecasting and early warning, flood risk zoning and watershed management by allocation of Rs177b.

However, not a single penny was spent during the last four years resultantly the country is facing the worst calamity, remarked the minister.

“The current flood situation could have been different if some work had been done by the previous government through the National Flood Protection Programme,” he added, while highlighting the fresh challenges which need to be addressed immediately.

The minister further added that the recent flood has not only claimed human lives, but it has also affected infrastructure and livelihood at large.

The damages caused to crops and livelihood will certainly result in severe food insecurity in the months to come, he added.

“It is time to scale up the piloted initiatives, particularly the food bank model, to curb food insecurity at large to sustain our current indicators of nutrition, '' the minister remarked.

The minister said that Vision 2025 was a step towards enhancing the nutrition indicators of mother and child, many key initiatives have been taken so far i.e. joining of Global Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement in 2013 which advocates for the right to nutritious food to all population at all times. Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Ministry of Planning Commission has prepared a framework for the rehabilitation of flood-affected people.

Under the framework, several measures will be taken for the rehabilitation of the flood-affected people.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022