Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Wednesday presided over a high-level meeting of the Sindh Irrigation Department, here at the Chief Minister’s House. The meeting was attended by Irrigation Secretary Babar Effendi; Managing Director, Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA), Ahsan Leghari; Secretary to CM Sindh, Agha Jan Akhtar and Chief Engineers and Superintending Engineers of various circles and sections of the irrigation department.
The Chief Minister, who is also the in charge minister irrigation, said that the department was very important considering the province’s agro-based economy. “There are complaints of corruption in the department from not only the growers and cultivators but also from the elected representatives,” he said and vowed to eradicate the menace of corruption with prompt measures.
The Chief Minster expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of some sections of the department, particularly the work done on flood protective bunds from Gudu to Thatta. Regarding provision of funds for development schemes, the Chief Minister assured that the same would be provided as per needs and specifications while there would be monitoring and vigilance of those schemes.
The Irrigation Secretary, in his detailed briefing on rains/flood situation, said that there was heavy monsoon rain from 6th September 2012 in upper Sindh and Balochistan, which badly affected six districts of Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Kashmore, Larakana, Qambar ShadadKot and Ghotki. He said that 21,627 square kilometres area was affected where as 49 de-watering pumps had been installed in the affected areas. The Managing Director SIDA gave details of various projects of the department, while the Project Director Small Dams organisation, presented briefing on Small Dams in Sindh.-PR
