MIRPURKHAS, Dec 11: District Nazim Pir Shafqat Hussain Shah Jilani has expressed his surprise over the government decision in which only 24 dehs of taluka Umerkot had been declared drought affected and demanded of the high-ups to include the genuine affected areas of all seven talukas of Mirpurkhas district for development works through the funds provided by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

Talking to newsmen at his office on Tuesday, he said that about Rs 10 billion would be distributed among the drought affected areas for development works.

He further said that Mirpurkhas district was situated at the tail of the Nara canal, therefore, it needed more water than other areas, but it was facing acute shortage of water for the last several years and the agriculture sector of this area had sustained huge losses due to damages to their crops.

He reminded that there was need of development works in all the seven talukas of this district including Mirpurkhas, Digri, Kot Ghulam Muhammad, Samaro, Umerkot, Kunri and Pithoro.

He said that in the past Sindh Board of Revenue had declared 24 dehs of taluka Umerkot as drought hit, but in the present situation all the seven talukas of the district have been hit high by drought.

PESH IMAMS: Two Pesh Imams namely Amir Hussain Malik and Muneer Ahmed alias Molai were arrested by town police on Tuesday on charges of using loudspeakers without permission. Cases have been lodged against them with the town police under section 3 of the Loudspeaker and Amplifier Act.