LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s desire to be the all-powerful chief executive of the province has cost the people of Punjab dearly, particularly those living in flood-hit areas, as the province’s machinery that was to deliver at this hour of trial is being kept busy on protocol duty, rather than coping with the massive floods.

The province of Punjab, like other provinces, has a functional system of local bodies although without elected representatives.

But Punjab is ironically facing double jeopardy, as it has no fulltime minister for the department, nor a full-time secretary.

The local bodies’ department, which could have served as the backbone of all rescue and rehabilitation work, has been rendered useless by the chief minister who almost a year ago assumed the charge of this vital department, as well as numerous others, under the pretext of bifurcation of these departments.

Rumours are circulating that the department lost its last serving minister, Dost Muhammad Khosa, only because he happened to be outspoken, a trait seldom liked by the current ruling family of Punjab.

There are many in the PML-N who believe that the all-important local bodies’ department had been rendered headless on two counts; firstly because Shahbaz kept it with him since the local councils issue was a political contention until lately, and secondly, because if he had to give it to anybody in his team, it would have been the scion of senior Khosa as per the promise made to him.

The local bodies department, despite the fact that it is functioning without an active chief, has the potential to carry out significant rescue and rehabilitation work, as it has a work force of thousands of government employees from BPS 1 to 18 in areas that were and still are grappled with massive floods.

The local council at the lowest level has at its disposal hundreds of tractors and trolleys, pumping machines and electric motors and above all, and more significantly, a network of officers and field workers.

If this work force had been exploited astutely and timely, there would have been less loss of human life and livestock.

It is beyond doubt that the devastation caused by the massive floods is far more than what the country faced in the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, a well-placed system of local bodies helped a lot in rescue operations in general and the rehabilitation work in particular.

Tehsil nazims and elected councillors served as major sources of reaching out to the people for agencies that undertook the rehabilitation work in the post-earthquake situation. Since the councillors and nazims had political stakes besides general information about their areas, they proved blessings both for the givers and the takers of aid, despite reports of massive misappropriation of funds.

A senior leader of the PML-N, who had accompanied the Punjab chief minister during his various visits to flood-hit areas, revealed that on a number of occasions, the political leadership and accompanying civil servants went speechless whenever the question arose on how to reach the people in need of help.

This happened because the accompanied bureaucrats were either unaware of the terrain, or had no expertise on how to act and help others in such situations.

The PML-N leader conceded that the absence of local bodies and the office of local and district nazims was greatly missed because no help could be extended despite good intentions.

The PML-N leader opined that Punjab should have acted better than the administration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as the latter had no time to cope with sudden flooding, but the Punjab administration had ample time and resources to act in advance.

He said the Sindh government had also acted well before time by handing over the task to the army keeping in view its incapacity to handle the massive floods.

When a senior leader of the PPP was contacted to narrate the efforts rendered by the party’s ministers and office-bearers in southern Punjab, he said the provincial chief did not bother to consult them before and after the floods.

He said on condition of anonymity that the party had been dismayed by the attitude of the chief minister.