NDMA, Met office comes under fire in NA

 ISLAMABAD, Sept 4 (APP): Members of National Assembly on Tuesday
criticized Meteorological Department and National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) for wrong flood prediction; and poor arrangements for
coping with the disaster.
 The members on a Calling Attention Notice had referred to previous
failure of NDMA to meet the needs of flood affected people and raised
questions about funds allocated for the Authority for the floods which
did not occur this year.
 National Disaster Management Authority should be renamed as National
Disaster Creation Authority, remarked a ruling party MNA from Sindh,
Amir Ali Shah.
 "NDMA should accept that it had failed to meet the affectees needs,"
he claimed and said, due to wrong predictions of Met Office farmers in
many parts of Sindh province did not cultivate their lands who should
be paid compensation.
 The movers of Calling Attention Notice included Nawab Abdul Ghani
Talpur, Syed Amir Ali Shah, Nazir Ahmed Bughio, Nawab Muhammad Yousuf
Talpur and Ms Yasmeen Rehman.
 Minister for Climate Change, Rana Muhanmmad Farooq Saeed Khan assured
the members all out efforts to cope with disasters and said, NDMA has
strong coordination with PDMAs. The situation emerged due to wrong
prediction of Met Office and it was not fault of Ministry of Climate
Change or the NDMA.
 He said the federal and the provincial government had allocated
sufficient funds to meet the calamity and mentioned to Rs five billion
allocation by the federal government and Rs three billion, Rs five
billion and Rs five billion allocation respectively by the KPK, Punjab
and Sindh governments.
 He said Sindh government has allocated Rs 200 million to meet the food
shortage in the drought hit areas of the province. "If, any further
support shall be needed, the federal government will come for the help
of the affectees."
 However, when the minister repeatedly remarked to pray to avoid the
disasters, Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi remarked some actions are
also needed besides prayers.
 Members Yasmeen Rehman, Nawab Yousuf Talpur and Nazir Ahmed Bughio
called in question the performance of NDMA and said, NDMA even
produced wrong figures about affectees of 2010-11 floods.
 The members claimed there were some ulterior motives behind Met Office
prediction and feared that funds allocated for floods will now be
misused. There is no coordination among the NDMA and PDMAs. Moreover,
when there is no flood, the funds allocate for the purpose must be
withdrawn from the Authority.
 The minister responding to their questions brushed aside the
impression and said, there is proper coordination among these
Authorities and they will fully prepared to dispense their duties to
meet the challenge.
 He assured that federal government is also prepared to help out
provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan in case of any calamity.