MITHI, Feb 11: Tharis have appealed the government and relief agencies to initiate relief measures on an emergency basis, saying that in the absence of concerted relief efforts, the effects of drought was likely to attain alarming proportions.
Calling on the philanthropists, relief agencies, print and electronic media to highlight the havoc wreaked by the prolonged drought, they said that they should compel the government and donors to devise a strategy for lessening the effects of the catastrophic losses suffered by the people of this arid region.
A number of public representatives and prominent local public figures, contacted by this correspondent during a visit to various towns and villages of Thar, said that despite high incidence of poverty, Thar had remained peaceful and devoid of crimes in the past.
Praising the self-respect of the Tharis, they said that in the past, there was no beggar to be seen in this region.
However, they said that the drought, persisting since 1996, had shattered its socio-economic fabric to such an extent that thousands of families had migrated to the irrigated lands along the river Indus.
Expressing their shock, they said that a large number of those, who had remained behind, had nothing to feed their families and could be seen wandering in the towns and villages, searching for sustenance.
Ironically, they said, no one had even bothered to come forward to alleviate the sufferings of the drought-hit Tharis.
The Nazim of the Nagarparkar union council said that there was an acute shortage of grain and fodder.
He said that most of the wells had not been recharged for the past many years because of continuous dry cycle, adding that they had either dried up or had turned extremely brackish, depriving the local people of even drinking water.
Some of the people, contacted by this correspondent, said that stripped of their means of income, some of the locals have begun selling locally-made liquor besides trapping and selling live peacocks.
They said that a large number of livestock animals and wildlife have perished during the past few months because of starvation, while the lives of the remaining animals was at stake.
People, contacted by this correspondent, warned the government and other relief agencies that the drought was likely to attain alarming proportions if prompt relief measures were not initiated.
