| Dear Friends, The return of flood effectees continues in many parts of the country, while at the same time rescue operations are ongoing in Jomshoro and Dadu districts in Sindh, where a vast areas are still under water.
According to a report published by UNOCHA, with displaced affectees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) continuing to return to their places of origin, an emerging focus is ensuring the propositioning of adequate quantities of relief items in advance of the winter months, when road access to significant portions of the province, and neighbouring Gilgit-Baltistan, may be cut off.
prevailing trend in Punjab continues to be one of return, necessitating rapidly scaled-up early recovery interventions in terms of food, WASH, health and shelter. Standing water remains in some areas of the province, particularly along the riverbeds, and is not expected to recede quickly.
In Punjab, the Provincial Emergency Commissioner has released figures indicating that the numbers of people in temporary camps and schools is rapidly decreasing, confirming the need for scaled up shelter support in return areas.
According to the report the number of schools reported as being used as shelters across the country has decreased further; 692,000 people are now staying in 3,122 schools. Some 9,970 schools are now reported as damaged by the floods.
The number of temporary learning centers (TLCs) established by the cluster has reached 454 (benefiting 38,879 children). Some 415 adult literacy centres are benefiting 7,028 flood-affected adults. The cluster has distributed 396 school-in-a-box-kits, 503 recreation kits, 27,753 school bags and a variety of other essential school supplies in flood- affected districts across the country. The devastation caused by the floods, especially to the agricultural sector, is beyond description. The government alone cannot handle it and the private sector will have to come forward and play its role in the rehabilitation and rebuilding process. The government on its part can facilitate this process by taking effective measures. It can remove duties levied on all types of tractors, agricultural machinery, second-hand pick-up trucks and trolleys. We can import these equipments from Russia, Ukraine and China at very cheap prices. It's pointless to depend on locally produced tractors at this point in time since they are very expensive and their production cannot meet the enormous demand.
The government should make sure the provision of free wheat seeds to farmers all over the country and allow free import of seeds and saplings to any party willing to invest in this area by removing all obstacles like NOCs, licenses etc. It should purchase metallic wheat silos itself and allow their duty-free import as well. Large silos and godowns should be constructed at nodal points in all the provinces and these must be stocked with rice coming up in November and the leftover stocks of wheat. Vast areas of agricultural land are lying unutilised. They could be leased out for mechanised cultivation. If placed under trained personnel, the output could easily address the problem of food shortage in the country. All development authorities, municipalities, irrigation departments, highway authorities etc must be ordered to plant fruit trees only. We don't need ornamental trees in this country where there is so much hunger.
All local industries must temporarily divert their production to items of human survival needs, agricultural appliances, telecomm facilities, UPS units and batteries, communication towers, tents and insecticides. Communication is not a luxury anymore; it is an economic necessity. Therefore, duties on cell phones should be brought down by 50 per cent. There are Chinese companies which are willing to supply cell phones in huge quantities for Rs550 each. These measures must be taken to get out of the current disastrous situation. Let the people take over command of their lives and let the government facilitate them by removing all hurdles in their path. Regards Shoaib Habib Memon Cell.0314 2090252
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