BADIN, Aug 1: Relief items started arriving here on Friday and the district administration focussed its attention on its distribution in the flood-hit areas besides continuing with the rescue operations there.

However, some philanthropists, who had contributed greatly to the dispatch of relief goods from all over the country, accused the district administration of adopting a non-cooperative attitude regarding the relief distribution efforts while an NGO even accused it of not accepting its items at all.

Thousands of people, who were still marooned in their homes, were reportedly facing starvation in addition to being forced to drink dirty water. Many of the people contacted by this correspondent complained of lack provisions, including medical supplies.

Many of the stranded people, who had given up hope for rescue, used Turhas, (boat-like floatable made up of straws) and managed to reach higher ground.

Some of them told this correspondent that they had not been provided food, adding that no one had reached them for rescue.

They said that helicopters did fly by, but no food was dropped.

The rescue operation was still continuing and it was stated to be the top priority of the administration to rescue the marooned people but reports reaching here suggested that lack of interest on the part of the district administration would result in losses of lives.

Social workers, Wali Mohammad Chandio and Zulfiqar Otho, who had gone nine kilometres into the Behdmi area in the Kadhan town, told Dawn that they had not seen any boat or rescue teams operating there. They accused the district administration of having abandoned the people of the area.

One of the town’s residents, Abdullah, painted a grim picture of how the survivors fared, saying that a large number of people had been forced to abandon their homes and migrate towards other areas, adding that those, who had chosen to stay on higher grounds and in the relief camps, were without food.

He said that they had to wait to be able to get cooked food provided by workers of NGOs, who visited their area after long hours.

Abdullah said that the administration had stopped the supply of food in relief camps and the people staying there had been forced to go back to their homes, which were still inundated by rainwater.

He said that the Kadhan-Nindo town road had been washed away and a huge body of water remained in its place. He said that many of villages, situated along the road, had been washed away, adding that no one had yet gone to that site.

Meanwhile, nearly 5,000 persons, who had taken refuge on top of the sandy dunes in the vicinity of the Walhari, Pakhothar, Mithi-2 and 3, Jhanghli and Singari dehs, were also reportedly starving while many of them needed urgent medical treatment.

Allah Bachayo Dars, also from Kadhan, said that the administration had failed to rescue people marooned in the area, adding that those who had survived rains would die of disease if immediate steps were not taken in this regard. An outbreak of disease had reportedly already occurred only a day ago in the area.

Moosa Mallah, Allah Jurio and Mohammad Hassan Kalhoro from the Haji Abdullah Shah union council said that their village had been inundated and they were trapped in their homes.

They said that more than 3,000 families had been stranded in the area, adding that none of them had received any food or medical supplies.