MITHI: Head of Senate’s stand­ing committee on problems of less developed areas, Mohammad Usman Kakar, has lamented dis­mal performance of both Sindh and federal governments in Thar desert where hundreds of infants have died from complications cau­s­ed by malnutrition and seaso­nal infections.

Mr Kakar, accompanied by Haji Momin Khan Afridi, Mohammad Shafeeq Tareen, Gayanchand and others who reached here on Wed­nes­day to assess drought condi­tions, told media persons after mee­ting officials and local Pakis­tan Peoples Party lawmakers that children were dying of hunger and the jobless were committing sui­cide but rulers kept harping on the same tune that Thar would change Pakistan.

He termed it a cruel joke with Tharis and said that federal government had not bothered to spend even a single penny either on relief packages or on any development scheme in the desert region over the past many years.

He urged the federal govern­ment and its ministries to play their role to save lives of Tharis by launching projects for training Thari youngs­ters in various skills so that they could raise standard of their lives.

The Sindh government, too, should focus on real issues of the drought-stricken people instead of doling out alms without launching long-term projects and said that governments were carrying out huge uplift schemes in cities only instead of mitigating sufferings of people living in backward areas.

He said that if only one per cent of royalty of Thar coal reserves were spent on the desert the situ­ation would greatly improve over the coming years.

It was a cruel joke to say that Thar which was itself facing the worst power crisis with only 200 out of 2,600 villages electrified so far was going to pro­vide power to the entire country.

He criticised the Sindh govern­ment for its failure to provide water and healthcare facilities to Thar and said that it was a matter of great concern that desert people were forced to drink highly contaminated water.

Senator Kakar demanded that a huge amount of Rs4 billion, which had been “squandered away” by Dr Samar Mubarkmand on under­ground coal gasification plant near Islamkot, be recovered from him and spent on development projects in Thar as the massive project was just a means to embezzle public money.

He cautioned against making any move to tinker with the Consti­tution to roll back certain clauses of 18th Amendment and said that such attempts would be foiled. All the democratic forces would ens­ure that more powers were dev­o­lved to provinces to strengthen the federation.

The country faced uncertainty because of one-sided accountabi­lity, he said, adding that all the per­sons who had committed corruption should be sent to jail but they must have the right to due process.

The National Finance Commis­sion Award should be calculated on the basis of level of poverty and backwardness instead of size of population.

PPP MNA Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani, government officials and PPP leaders briefed members of the Senate committee and claimed that Sindh government had launched mega projects to provide health and safe drinking water facilities in Thar.

The senators visited different areas including Thar coalfield and were briefed by officials of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company about coal extraction and power plants.

On Tuesday, the committee had arrived in Badin where Mr Kakar addressed a news conference at deputy commissioner’s office and deplored that flawed, self-centred and myopic policies of successive rulers had pushed backward areas into darkness.

He said that people would resist the move to construct controversial dam which had already been rejected by assemblies a number of times. Instead of creating hype over construction of more dams the government needed to first focus on judicious distribution of the available irrigation water among federating units, he added.

It was a matter of great concern that oil and gas companies were not ready to spend anything on the development of backward areas like Badin despite earning billions of rupees from extraction of petrochemicals, he said.

He said that most lawmakers deemed it below their dignity to raise chronic issues of their areas in assemblies and complained that during their visit to Badin no local lawmaker bothered to meet them and brief them about the issues of the district.

He said the committee would compile a report on burning issues of backward areas and submit it to upper house for debate.

Badin DC Dr Abdul Hafeez Siyal briefed the senators about the issues of the district.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2019