MITHI, Aug 30: The Tharparkar District Council has demanded that the government should declare Thar a calamity-hit area as the district is faced with a drought-like situation.

Moving a resolution in the council's Monday session, Mohammad Usman Nohri said measures should be taken to provide relief to people of the district. He said the people of Thar depended on agriculture and livestock for their livelihood but some parts of the district received light rains while others received no rains at all.

This had affected the local people, forcing them to migrate along with their cattle head, he added. Allah Warayo said 70,000 wheat bags were supplied to the district. The flour was to be sold at Rs11 per kilogramme but chakkis were not charging the subsidized rate, he added.

Abdur Rahim Khoso and others said Tharis did not have resources to cope with the situation as they had sold most of their belongings in the wake of frequent droughts, earthquakes and cyclones.

Adopting the resolution unanimously, the district council demanded that Thari people should be provided with flour at subisidized rate and two depots be established in every deh for supply of relief goods. It further demanded that fodder for cattle should be provided at half rate.