BADIN, Aug 15: District Nazim Sardar Kamal Khan Chang on Friday boycotted the first formal meeting of the District Relief Committee as rain victims continued to complain about the non- provision of relief goods.

The complaints overshadowed claims of the DRC’s chairman, MPA Ali Bux Shah alias Pappu Shah, that relief goods were being provided to the rain victims staying at the relief centres as well as the people still stranded in submerged villages.

The district-wide post-rain relief operation, which was in its second phase, was expected to be formally resumed from Friday evening or Saturday morning following a protest campaign launched against the DRC by some of the Badin-based Nazims of union councils.

Huge quantities of relief items were seen in the office of the Badin DCO Mumtaz Ali Shah, which was to be dispatched to union councils.

The people, interviewed by this correspondent at various relief camps in Kadhan, the worst-affected coastal area of the district, narrated their tales of miseries.

A visibly-upset Allah Rakhiyo, one of the rain victims lodging at a make-shift relief centre at the Kadhan Primary School, said that they (the rain victims) had been shifted to this centre by the police during heavy rains, adding that for the first three days, the management of a local sugar mill had provided them with food. He complained that even after that they had not received anything from the district government or the union council Nazim.

He said that there were around 49 families, mostly belonging to the Qaimkhani Chandio village, staying at the relief centre.

He said that he did not know what would happen to them after the schools opened on Aug 17.

Qabool Ahmed, one of the residents of the Masoo Kan Chandio village in Kadhan, told Dawn at the Government Girls Primary School that there were around 40 families staying at the relief centre, adding that they had received only once around 10 kilogrammes of flour, and some rice and vegetable oil.

Volunteers were seen distributing relief goods, donated by the Edhi Foundation and a foreign-based NGO, in Behdami, some 37 kilometres away from Badin.

A local NGO Young Sheedi Welfare Organisation was coordinating with the foreign-based NGO, Oxfam, for goods’ distribution in the Bhugra Memon union council.

UC Nazim Haji Abdul Rehman Memon said that 27,000 people had been affected in the area, adding that the government had distributed relief goods to 5,500 of the 7,500 families affected by rains in the area. He said that about 2,000 families had not received any relief so far.

This area remained completely cut off from the rest of the district after the accumulation of rainwater and breaches in canals and the LBOD.

Badin DCO Mumtaz Ali Shah said that so far 346 trucks of relief goods had been dispatched, adding that a meeting was scheduled to be held on Friday night in which chairman DRC, the DCO and taluka Nazims would discuss details regarding the relief efforts.

People, staying in relief camps, were forced to live in miserable conditions as they were burning wood to cook their food while entire families were forced to live in one room besides they lacked proper medical supplies.

It was learnt that people willing to leave the relief camps were offered rations to last them a month but nobody knew what these people would do after their supplies exhausted. The situation seemed all the more hopeless as agricultural lands were still inundated by rainwater and rain victims had no jobs.

The possibility for the early drainage of the rainwater seemed remote as the taluka municipal administrations lacked water-suction machines.

The absence of the district Nazim from the DRC meeting remained enigmatic as he could not be contacted for comments in this regard.

It was learnt that he had sought details of the distribution of relief goods from the DCO.

Officials said that in a meeting held earlier at the Badin cantonment, he had been persuaded to iron out his differences, if any, with the DRC.

Even Dr Aziz Memon, the chairman of the District Public Safety Commission, Badin, and the taluka Nazim, Badin city, Dr Musarrat Khwaja, were not available for comments in this regard.