HYDERABAD: The Sindh Abadgar Board considers encroachment on the natural drains across Sindh as one of the reasons for rain triggered flash floods in the province which affected millions of people and caused thousands of billions of rupees in financial losses.

A meeting of the board, which is a farmers’ lobbying group, here on Sunday expressed deep concern over the colossal losses sustained by the agriculturists and livestock farmers in Sindh. Dr Muhammad Bashir Nizamani, Vice President of the board, chaired the meeting. Dr Zulfiqar Yousfani, Aslam Mari, Usman Buzdar, Arbab Ahsan, Yar Muhammad Laghari and other office bearers and members of SAB attended.

The farmers expressed sadness that they and their counterparts had sustained hundreds of billions of rupees losses as standing crops of dates, onion, cotton, rice, chillies and many other vegetables were devastated by rains and flood.

“The farmers won’t be able to sow wheat and other winter crops because the flash flood is unlikely to recede from the submerged agricultural lands in next three to four months,” they said.