ISLAMABAD: Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Monday alleged that the last PTI government during it tenure had not implemented the R177 billion flood protection programme that could have minimised the devastating impact of floods this year.

“During the last four years, the previous government did not spend a single penny from the National Flood Protection Programme (NFPP). As a result, the country is facing the worst calamity,” the minister said while speaking at a function on Waseela-i-Khurak — a pilot project for improved nutrition.

He regretted that the situation would have been quite different had the previous government taken the approved project forward, but they chose not to spend a single penny on the project. He said the NFPP was started for developing an integrated flood management system involving reservoir operations, flood forecasting and early warning, flood risk zoning and watershed management with an allocation of Rs177bn. No progress was made which led the country to face the worst calamity, he added.

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

The minister said the recent flood had not only claimed human lives but also affected the infrastructure and livelihood at large. The damage caused to crops and livelihood will certainly result in severe food insecurity in the months to come, he warned. “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.”

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2022