MIRPURKHAS: MNA Mir Munawar Talpur Chairman of District Relief Committee (DRC) has contradicted the allegations regarding discrimination in distribution of relief goods among people of different talukas of the district.
"Despite numerous odds like historic rainfall, flooding and shortage of resources the government made optimal efforts to help the affected people," he said here on Tuesday at a press briefing.
The briefing, which was called in response to allegations by a group of people who staged a long march from Mirpurkhas to Hyderabad to protest over alleged neglect of three talukas in relief work, was jointly addressed by the MNA and DCO Ghulam Hussain Memon.
They rebutted the charges saying they have provided food ration to 386,689 families in addition to other facilities and invited the accusers to substantiate their claims.
"Besides the district government, which was supplied by the Disaster Management authorities, local and foreign non- government organisations and aid agencies also catered to the needs of the people," the DRC's Chairman said.
He recalled that the first spell of the monsoon rains, which started on August 9, had affected three talukas while the remaining three talukas were affected by the subsequent spells which continued till September 15.
"Naturally relief was provided in the areas which were first struck by the rains," he added.
The MNA informed that he had asked for a share of 20 percent for Jhudo taluka, which has an estimated population of around 400,000, from the relief goods while the other 5 talukas to be provided 15 percent each.
Talpur said that all the tiers of the government had to cope with multiple challenges at one time owing to which shortcomings might have occurred.
"Rescue, relief, prevention of areas from approaching floodwater from the overflowing canals and drains, law and order, all these challenges were met simultaneously," he observed adding that their prompt action saved MNV drain from developing breaches.
The MNA said the situation was exacerbated by encroachments on the waterways, specially of Dhoro Puran drain whose historic width which varied between 1 mile to 330 feet was reduced to just 10 to 15 feet.
"Left Bank Outfall Drain was built to carry saline water to the sea.
The disposal of storm water was never the purpose of the drain's constructions," he clarified in response to a question about drain's capacity.
When asked whether the growers will be able to cultivate their Rabi crops, the MNA expressed apprehensions that despite efforts to drain out water from the farmlands many areas would remain under water till December.
"We fear that many growers will not be able to sow wheat crop by December," he said without giving any figure or specific areas which are likely to remain submerged for 2 more months.
Talpur said that he had requested the federal and the provincial governments to separate the drainage system of Mirpurkhas from Badin district to ease the outflow of water.
The DRC Chairman questioned the statistics of the affected farmland as collected by Sindh Agriculture Department saying that they were not only "incomplete" but were "incorrect" indeed.
According to Munawar Talpur MNA, the rain and flood displaced people of Mirpurkhas would require continuous supply of ration, tents and other facilities for at least three more months.
He requested the National Disaster Management Authority and Provincial Disaster Management Authority to supply more tents to help the people who were either living with multiple families in a single tent or were still without shelter.
Meanwhile, DCO Ghulam Hussain Memon informed that his office had so far distributed 27,271 tents, 9,279 rice bags of 50 kilogramme each and 6,998 flour bags of 10 kilogrammes each, among other edible items. More than 15,000 mosquito nets, 11,205 plastic sheets and 2,004 jerry cans of water were also given, Roshan Shaikh said.
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011
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