Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani and Irrigation and Food Minister Jam Khan Shoro jointly chaired a meeting on Saturday at Shehbaz Building to review the rain emergency plan for Hyderabad. The session was called in response to a heavy monsoon rain warning issued by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. Minister Ghani stated that the situation in Hyderabad has been under control so far despite the monsoon rains, but he acknowledged that continued rainfall could pose challenges for residents.
He assured that all civic and municipal agencies, officials, and staffers were fully prepared and actively working to minimize any disruptions.
During the meeting, Ghani addressed the financial needs of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), highlighting the agency’s requirement for government grants, particularly during the monsoon season. He noted that WASA cannot rely on monthly government grants but may receive special funding during emergencies. Ghani also instructed the concerned officials to develop a backup plan to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply throughout the monsoon period. Speaking on the occasion, the Sindh Irrigation Minister said the level of water in canals would be reduced in monsoon rains.
He said the de-watering machinery would be deployed under the plan, which was executed in the wake of the 2022 floods in the province. He said that de-watering machines would also be deployed at some additional points. Shoro asked the WASA officials to install generators at some of the pumping stations, which couldn’t perform the drainage task through gravity. He directed the officials concerned to improve bills recoveries of WASA. Shoro mentioned that the government agencies had been paying the WASA’s bills.
Additional Chief Secretary Local Government, Syed Khalid Hyder Shah, said the excess rainwater from Hyderabad was drained into canals and the Indus River. He told the provincial ministers that meetings had been convened in the past to resolve WASA’s problems as the agency’s requirements would again be fulfilled during the rain emergency.
Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner, Zainul Abideen Memon, said Hyderabad’s drainage system could tackle up to 100 millimetres of rain. He told the provincial ministers that deployment of de-watering machinery would become necessary if more rainfall occurred to avert any emergency. He briefed the meeting that there were 118 disposal stations in Hyderabad as some of them had backup generator facilities while the rest of them were reliant on the grid-supplied electricity. He said that 641 municipal staffers had been deputed at the pumping stations in the city. He told the meeting that the leaves of all the essential officials and personnel had been cancelled.
The Deputy Commissioner informed the provincial minister that encroachments in the form of houses built on the drains had been a major issue hampering the de-silting of the drainage network. He said the de-silting of all the drains had been ensured despite these issues. He said that due precautions had been taken to fortify the river embankments to tackle emergency situations in the aftermath of heavy rains. Later, the Local Government Minister informed media persons that a forecast of heavy monsoon rains had been issued for the province. He said that preparations had been underway since May to tackle rain emergency during monsoon season. Ghani said that he had received briefings on the rain emergency plan from the Hyderabad commissioner, deputy commissioner, WASA managing director, and city mayor.
He said that they had given suggestions to overcome shortcomings in the plan. He said the Sindh government had been doing its best to ensure that civic agencies like WASA should perform their duties diligently. He, however, clarified that it was difficult to bring overnight improvement in the working of these agencies. He said that relevant agencies were fully alerted to tackle the situation of heavy monsoon rains. The irrigation minister said the Sindh government was fully vigilant to monitor Indus River embankments. He hoped that the drainage system in Hyderabad city would ensure quick disposal of accumulated rainwater.
