THATTA, Nov 16 PPP MPA Humera Alwani has appealed to the Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani for rehabilitation of those families of growers and peasants who had lost their livelihood due to periodical sea intrusion in Thatta deltaic belt.At a press conference, Ms Alwani said that during a recent meeting with the premier, she told him that the population of Indus delta in Thatta district had been badly affected by cyclones and sea intrusion resulting into inundation of 1,297,401 acres of fertile land in coastal belt leaving over 40,000 families displaced and jobless.

These families should be considered calamity-hit people as they were either compelled to shift to cities or were passing a miserable life in the delta area, she said.

The PPP MPA said that precedents were there when the government compensated the people displaced by the construction of Mangla Dam and Lyari Expressway by providing them alternate plots.

She said that Indus delta , 240 kilometres in length along the Indus River and 220 kilometres in width, covers about three million hectares.,

The MPA said the delta was gradually losing its beauty and life due to non-release of water downstream Kotri in Indus for the last couple of years. She said that from 1880 to 1939, the downstream flow was maintained at 150 million acres feet (MAF) which was reduced to 35.2 MAF till 1977 and after 1992 to date the inconsistent flow has reached approximately to 10 MAF.

Ms Humera said that she had told the prime minister that six coastal talukas of Thatta district have been affected because of sea intrusion and some 1,297,401 acres of fertile land has so far been inundated in these talukas. These included Shah Bundar, Jati, Mirpur Sakro, Ghorabari, Kharochhan and Keti Bundar talukas.

Kharochhan taluka was the most affected where 161,917 acre of land had been intruded by the sea water, she said.

The MPA said that the situation was not different in Badin district where 6,500 acres of land had been intruded by sea water, adding that if the government failed to take any remedial measures, the situation would soon go out of reach as the sea was inundating 80 acres of land on an average every day in Thatta district.

She said the losses due to delta devastation include mangrove habitat loss, fish depletion, degradation of fresh water lakes, impact on agriculture, hyper salinity, impact on livestock and deterioration of social and health conditions.

She said presently the active Indus delta occupies an area of 600,000 hectares and only the area between Hajamro and Kharak creeks got water from the Indus with one main outlet to the sea, i.e Khobar creek.