KARACHI: Facilities for fishermen’s villages announced
KARACHI, Aug 24: Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai has written two beautiful lines in his famous Shah-jo-Risalo: `Some folks erect their huts over water, but even then they die of thirst!’ The island villages of Karachi fishermen in this modern era are still a living picture of these lines.
On Thursday, Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister for Livestock and Fisheries and Chairman of Fishermen Cooperative Society and Authority Faqir Mohammad Jadim Mangrio along with a media team visited the island villages of Salihabad, Kaka village, Younus Abad, Shams Pir and Baba Bhit to learn about their problems.
These island villages situated in UC-4 of Keamari Town were seen teeming with a lot of socioeconomic problems, including alarming unemployment, lack of education and healthcare facilities, rampant poverty and virtually non-existent infrastructure, but the most pressing problem of thousands of people living in these villages was acute dearth of potable water. In almost every village, women and girls were seen fetching water in big and small pots and utensils on their heads.
In Shams Pir, some children were even seen fetching water from a puddle of stagnant rainwater. The villagers and their representatives told the media that their villages had been deprived of water for many decades. They said that in a few villages water was being supplied through tankers, but its quantity was not sufficient to cater to the needs of these villagers.
They said that to bridge the gap, some people fetched water from Keamari and other areas through boats and it was sold at the rate of Rs30 per small drum. They said that recently some water schemes were launched for these villages and they were desperately waiting for their completion.
The adviser on demands of fishermen announced the raising of the number of water tankers for Kaka village from 30 to 40. He also approved a water pipeline of 1500 feet along with a three-phase motor for the village. For Salihabad, he announced the provision of a boat to fetch water from Keamari on a daily basis.
The lack of healthcare facilities was another major problems for the fishermen. In Shamus Pir, a building of basic health unit/ dispensary built in 1995 was there but without furniture and medical staff. Stray dogs were seen wandering in the courtyard of the building and there was only a single broken chair in one room.
Villagers told the adviser that a doctor and three paramedics were sanctioned for the dispensary but they did not bother to come here. They said that a night watchman used to be there in past but after his retirement no replacement was provided.
A woman councillor, Zulekha, told that a doctor was provided by the fishermen society but due to his objectionable activities villagers had banned his entry to the island. She said that a lady health visitor was also sanctioned for the dispensary but she also seldom came to work. She said that to fall ill in the island was a nightmare for poor fishermen as some Rs1,500 was needed to arrange transport for shifting the patient to the main city area.
She said that on Wednesday a fisherman of her village, father of seven daughters, fell seriously ill and died within hours before his poor family could arrange any transport to shift him to the city area.
The adviser expressed his displeasure over the state of dispensary. He announced Rs 2 million for reactivating it. He ordered the provision of two beds and other furniture. He also announced sacking of the existing doctor and providing a new one along with staff. He also visited the family of the deceased fisherman and announced Rs10,000 cash aid and Rs2,000 per month stipend for the bereaved family. He also announced a new jetty for the village and electricity generator for its main mosque.
