HYDERABAD, Sept 11: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has appealed to the president and prime minister to announce a special package for rehabilitation of farmers whose crops have been destroyed due to heavy rains.

Speaking at a press conference at the press club here on Monday, SCA president Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah said that the growers of Sindh specially 12 districts of lower Sindh had suffered losses to the tune of tens of billions of rupees.

Akhund Ghulam Mohammad Siddiqui from Matiari, Mohammad Khan Sarejo (Badin), Aijaz Nabi Shah (Tando Mohammad Khan) and Anwar Bachani (Tando Allahyar) were also present on the occasion.

They said that the Sindh chief minister during his visit to Hyderabad had ignored the farmers and did not hold any meeting with them.

They said that the chief minister following his aerial visit to different districts had announced that he would declare certain areas as calamity-affected after the assessment of total losses.

“What is there to asses?” the chamber chief sarcastically asked and added that nothing had been left to assess in the aftermath of heavy rains.

He said that the Sindh chief minister had failed to visit the rural taluka of Hyderabad district which was totally submerged under rainwater.

Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah said that the Sindh chief minister had announced Rs5,000 each for katcha houses and in case of pakka houses, affected people would be paid Rs10,000 each.

He said that even a hut could not be raised with Rs5,000.

He said that the destruction of cotton, sugarcane and rice crops would have serious repercussions on textile and sugar industry as well as rice husking mills.

The chamber chief said that the tragedy was that the household items of residents of Latifabad unit nos 2, 9 and 11, who had left their houses in haste to save their lives as water entered their houses, had been looted by hoodlums.

He appealed to the president and prime minister to announce waiver of all bank loans and mark-ups of growers.

He said that only the federal government could come to the rescue of growers as they had lost all hopes in the Sindh government.

Replying to questions, office-bearers of the chamber said that at present, the retail price of tomato was Rs50 per kg, whole sale price of chillies Rs3,800per maund and of onion Rs2,000 per bag.

They said that as prices of essential goods primarily depended on demand and supply, the prices of vegetables would go sky high during Ramazan as vegetables had also been destroyed.