Over 5,000 survivors expelled from relief camps

On the verbal orders of the district officers, over 5,000 affectees, including aged women, men and children, were expelled from relief camps established in various educational institutions of the city after Eidul Fitr. The depressed families alleged that their belongings were thrown out and the rooms where they were staying had been locked without any notice.
The unexpected and shocking treatment made the victims helpless as most of them belong to Ghazi Ghat, Jampur, Kot Adu, Gujrat, Basira, Ghausabad and other flooded areas. Though the administration is denying such action against them, but a large number of passers-by and staff of these institutions observed these moving scenes. Following the worst-ever flood in the country, thousands of people thronged Dera Ghazi Khan city, thinking it a safe place for shelter after the River Indus rendered thousand of families homeless.
After five weeks in the relief camps, the victims are again finding some shelter to protect their children from changing weather. Abdul Rehman of Jampur said that the management of colleges and schools did not make the decision on humanitarian grounds and kicked them in a very humiliating manner. He said that most of them did not know where to go when their mud and bricks houses were swept away or damaged by the flash flood.
The victims were allowed to stay in the flood relief camps established at Government Boys High School No 1, Government Comprehensive High School, Government Boys Primary School No 2 & 4, Government Girls High School No 1 and Government Postgraduate College for Boys. Ishaq Gopang, an affectee from Ghazi Ghat (Muzaffargarh), said that over 600 houses were demolished and the river turned the populated area into a desert. "We have to go to our native town after forced evacuation from the relief camp."
When contacted, DCO Dera Ghazi Khan Iftikhar Ali Sahu strongly denied that the affectees were expelled from schools and colleges. He claimed that the affectees had left the camps of their own after the water dried in most of the areas and now they have started the construction of their houses. He claimed that affectees had left the camps in other flooded districts as well while the victims were provided relief goods, including the dry ration. However it raised questions about the credibility of the district administration that how all the flood victims left the relief camps at a time in a single day.