MITHI: Drought-stricken Tharis, who were made to walk several miles on foot under scorching sun and in some cases travel hundreds of miles to reach the centres for distribution of wheat on Monday complained of having to put up with humiliating and indifferent attitude of the government staff for a meagre 50kg bag of wheat.
The people at the seven centres in Mithi, Chhachhro, Nagarparkar, Islamkot, Khensar, Kaloi and Diplo where the government started the process of distributing wheat to over 2.08 million Tharis after much dilly-dallying said that they had to travel hundreds of miles to get the meagre wheat and that too after having to suffer humiliation.
They complained of arrogant and indifferent attitude of the functionaries concerned at the centres and said that in past the Sindh government used to hand over wheat to over 287,000 families at their doorsteps but this time the affected families were made to travel several miles to reach the taluka headquarters for the relief.
They said that over 40 per cent families of 1.6 million people had been deprived of relief wheat in the drought-stricken desert region.
Rights activists and members of civil society termed the wheat distribution according to Nadra record a joke with the poor drought-hit people and said the gravest issues of the district were safe drinking water, fodder for their livestock and quality healthcare facilities.
Pakistan Peoples Party Thar chapter information secretary Nandlal Malhi said in a statement issued to local media that the latest wheat distribution was a cruel joke with drought-stricken people.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had directed high-ups of the Sindh government to immediately provide relief to Tharis at their doorsteps but instead they were being subjected to humiliation for a meagre quantity of wheat, he said.
He asked revenue officials to take the wheat bags to villages and hand them over to Tharis at their doorsteps to spare the time and money they had to spend on transportation of the grain from the towns to their villages.
He demanded revenue and food department officials to coordinate with PPP leaders as well as members of local government and bring all stakeholders on board to run the relief operation in a smooth and hassle-free manner.
Dr Shaikh Tanweer Ahmed, chief of an NGO working in Thar on health and nutrition issues, expressed serious concerns over ‘mishandling’ of relief operation and pointed out that children and pregnant women needed much more than only bags of wheat.
He urged national and international organisations to step forward and help Tharis in their difficult time caused by severe drought.
Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018
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