UMERKOT, Dec 23: Trend of bonded labour has seen a new rise in Sindh in the wake of last year's floods and this year's heavy rains, especially in farm sector and brick kilns, according to speakers at a conference held here on Friday.

Peasant leader Ghulam Hussain Malookani said that farm and brick kiln owners had made more workers bonded after the twin calamities and they were subjecting them to forced labour with impunity.

More than 2.5 million people were in bondage in the province out of whom 450,000 were in Umerkot district. The number of bonded labour was earlier estimated to be more than 1.7 million, he said.

He said that the feudal lords and land owners enjoyed support of law-enforcement agencies, politicians and other influential people while the bonded labourers were voiceless.

Rights activist Amb Bheel said that aid was distributed among favourites and poor peasants, particularly those belonging to scheduled caste, were neglected.

They were made bonded labourers after the successive natural disasters deprived them of their livestock and they were unable to repay loans to landlords, he said.

Hari Mazdoor Tanzeem president Shahida Khaskheli pointed out to double standards in the distribution of Pakistan cards and said that in some districts people were drawing Rs20,000 through the cards whereas in others they were getting Rs10,000. Besides, the procedure to get the card was difficult, she said.

The secretary of the Green Rural Development Organisation, Imdad Gopang, said that four months on, rainwater was still stagnating on arable land and watercourses and irrigation infrastructure had not been repaired yet.

More than 30 per cent land in Umerkot district could not be tilled because of the stagnating water and it would lead to serious food insecurity, especially among peasants, he said.

He said that respectful people were being turned into beggars through Pakistan cards and advised peasants not to run after the cards and instead go for work.

Dr Ghulam Hyder said that the government aid was being distributed through influential people, hence the people who were not deserving were receiving it. There were several evidences that food items meant for rain victims had been thrown into rainwater instead of giving it away, he said.

The worst sufferers were peasants, farm workers, kiln workers, and workers of non-formal sector, including women and children, he said, adding they were still living in camps managed by no one and often went without food, shelter and clean drinking water.

The Green Rural Development Organisation and Hari Mazdoor Tanzeem organised the conference in which a large number of peasants and farm workers of rain-hit areas took part. A theatre group presented a play highlighting plight of the oppressed people, followed by a concert and a Mushaira in which local poets, singers and musicians presented their work.