HYDERABAD: The Hari Welfare Association (HWA) has expressed great regret and said due to the continuous monsoon rains in Sindh, peasants and labourers have been severely affected. Thousands of peasants’ and labourers' houses have collapsed, crops have been destroyed, cattle are dying due to lack of fodder and diseases, daily wagers are in a state of hunger due to non-availability of work in the rainy weather.
Children, women, and men are suffering from congenital diseases due to mosquitoes and stagnant water. The government should provide an immediate relief package to peasants and labourers.
In a statement released on Thursday, HWA president Akram Khaskheli said the rain has caused havoc in Sindh since last month, due to which, cotton crops cultivating on millions of acres has been destroyed, cattle are dying in Sindh, specifically in Sanghar, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Umarkot, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Naushahro Feroze, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Dadu and other districts. This gives millions of rupees loss to the peasants and they are facing debt. This situation can lead them to further destruction and become a reason for forced labour and already, the situation of forced labour is worst in Sindh.
He added that from 2013 to 2021, a total of 10,190 peasants and labourers have been released from the captivity of landlords and brick kiln owners through court orders. Seven year ago The Sindh Bonded Labour Abolition Act 2016 was passed but implementation is zero, District Vigilance Committees are not constituted in all districts to monitor the situation of bonded labour. Due to the non-availability of economic opportunities in the field of agriculture and livestock and non-implementation of SBLSAA, there are certain chances that rain affected peasants and labourers could be victims of bonded labour, therefore we demand that government should take concrete measures to ensure livelihood support to peasants and daily wagers, SBLSAA must be implemented in true spirit and latter.
Currently, it was the cotton-picking season in Sindh, which provides an opportunity for livelihood to thousands of women and men, but due to the crop destruction, they could not find employment. They have migrated from Mitthi, Umarkot, and Mirpurkhas to Sanghar, Nawabshah, Naushahro Feroze, Khairpur, Matiari, and Hyderabad. Being residents of other districts, they are helpless at this time and are sitting under the sky; every district administration should help them immediately on the basis of migrant workers.
Khaskheli said men, women, elderly people and children sleep under the open sky. Their houses, traditionally made with mud, have been demolished. They also lack basic facilities like safe drinking water and toilets. Their cattle and livestock suffer from mosquitoes, waterborne disease and insects.
Akram further said millions of farmers and labourers in Sindh have been pushed into poverty by the rains, but the government has not announced any assistance so far. The Sindh government should declare the entire Sindh as flood/disaster affected and provide financial assistance to them under livestock and housing, immediately providing them with tents, mosquito nets, mosquito spray, food and drink equipment, digging drains and ensuring drainage of water from villages and crops.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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