THATTA, Nov 10: Sindh People’s Party Parliamentarians president Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that if successive governments had not scrapped mega projects to be implemented by the then Benazir Bhutto government in Thatta’s deltaic zone, the life of people would have been absolutely different today.

He was talking to newsmen at the Bachal Soomro village on Wednesday.

MPA Sassui Palijo, former MNA Babu Ghulam Hussain Memon, former MPAs Amin Lakho and Ghulam Qadir Palijo were present on the occasion.

Qaim Ali Shah condoled the death of 35 villagers in the boat tragedy.

He said had the mega projects, including the Keti Bunder mini-port-cum-fish harbour, a 5,000MW power plant by Gorden Wu and company worth $8 billion, been implemented thousands of locals and people of Karachi would have been employed.

The PPP leader said that life of the deltaic people had becoming miserable due to non-release of water below Kotri downstream.

He blamed the government for the shrinkage of livelihood resources, inundation of fertile lands by sea erosion and detention of fishermen by Indian law-enforcement personnel.

He said the government had failed to deliver goods and its failure in protecting lives and properties of people was evident from its cruel way of tackling incidents of boat tragedy and earthquake in the north.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP leader Sassui Palijo demanded that crisis management centres and floating dispensaries be set up along the Sindh coast.

She said that such centres be given boats and divers to cope with future eventualities.

Former MPA Amin Lakho distributed goods worth Rs40,000 and former MPA Ghulam Qadir Palijo handed over three oxen, two buffaloes and half a dozen goats to the bereaved families.

PROTEST: Retrenched employees of the Shah Murad Sugar Mills, Jhoke Sharif, have threatened to start hunger strike unto death outside the mill from the next week if they were not reinstated, their services regularized and their dues were not paid by the mill management without further delay.