MPs dissatisfied with emergency committee report

KABUL, but several members of the lower house expressed dissatisfaction with the measures. 

Representatives of agriculture Natural Disaster Management Agency (ANDMA) were summoned by the Parliament’s Environmental Protection Commission.     

Testifying before MPs, the officials said had delivered aid to 1.5 million drought-hit people in 14 provinces during the current year. Another one million victims were yet to be helped, said Muhammad Saleem Kunduzi, the deputy minister of agriculture. “We don’t have enough resources to meet people’s demands.”

An effective strategy had been devised to tackle problems related to the winter season, Muhammad Daim Kakar, the director of ANDMA, told the commission. The Cabinet had granted $20 million to the agriculture ministry for assistance to residents of remotes areas in the 14 provinces, he said.

Precautionary measures had been taken to ensure the safety of passengers passing through the Salang Pass during winter, said Eng. Ahmad Shah, the deputy minister of public works.

According to Minister of Rural Rehabilitation Janullah Mansoori, the drought posed a real challenge in eight northern provinces, including Nimroz and Badghis, where there was a shortage of drinking water.

A member from Ghor, Syed Nadir Shah Bahar, told the officials: “There is a contradiction between what you say and what you do.” As many as 17,934 families had been affected in province, but the agriculture minister said they would help only 10,000 families, Bahar said.

About 69,000 families were affected in Jawzjan province, but the agriculture ministry had promised aid to 10,000 households, said another legislator, Dr. Inayatullah Babar.  

Muhammad Karim Khalili, who headed the committee until recently, has been removed due to his frequent absence from Wolesi Jirga sessions.

mm/mas/mud   

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