BADIN, Dec 16: Representatives of agriculture organizations have appealed to President Gen Pervez Musharraf to fulfil his promise of special agriculture package made to farmers of Badin and Thatta districts during farmers’ conference in Islamabad.

They said if their demand for the agriculture package was not met, they would start protest campaign including hunger strike from December 23 in Badin.

Speaking at a press conference at the Awan-i-Shahafat on Friday, Abdul Jabbar Gopang of the Laar Abadgar Association, Mohammad Khan Sarejo, president of the Chamber of Agriculture, Badin and Mohammad Nawaz Memon, secretary general of the Sindh Abadgar Board, Badin, said that on the one hand the government had been claiming to help small growers for increasing their production and improving their socio-economic conditions while on the other, people living in the coastal areas of Badin and Thatta districts were suffering due to natural and man-made calamities. They said no steps had been taken for their rehabilitation and welfare. They said that repeated appeals made by them had fallen on deaf ears.

They said the sixteenth such tragedy had hit Badin during 2003, completely destroying their economy and they were still struggling to stabilize themselves after having survived successive disasters.

The Sindh government had time and again declared Badin calamity-affected area and was keeping people on false hopes of provision of relief but no steps were taken to improve their conditions, they alleged.

They said the president assured them in farmers’ conference in Islamabad about a special agriculture package for Badin but nothing had been done after a long time. They said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had announced a relief package for Thatta during a public meeting and people of the district got benefits to some extent.

They reminded the president of his assurances and demanded relief package under special circumstances, waiver of agriculture loans upto Rs200,000 with interest of Rs500,000 to farmers so that to enable them to stand on their own feet.