Ongoing effort: Relief activities in Tharparkar are ‘satisfactory’, says SHC team

SHC inspection team concludes that misappropriation accusations are baseless

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh High Court's judicial inspection team has observed that the relief activities in the drought-hit Tharparkar are going on in a 'satisfactory' and 'progressive manner'. It has also failed to find irregularities in dispatch, distribution, shortage and misappropriation of the relief wheat, as pointed out by the relief inspecting judge, Mian Fayaz Rabbani.

The district and session judge, Tharparkar, Syed Inamur Rehman, deputy commissioner Asif Jameel Shaikh and SSP Ashique Hussain Bozdar submitted the report to the SHC Hyderabad circuit bench on Thursday. On May 12, the SHC ordered the district judge in Tharparkar to form teams headed by either himself or an additional judge, including the DC, SSP, assistant commissioners and DSPs to inspect the relief work.

The team was given four days from May 16 to May 19 to carry out spot checks. The consolidated report submitted in the SHC has been signed by the judge, DC and SSP.



The judge formed three teams under the civil judge and judicial magistrates and also personally visited the wheat depots, hospitals and reverse-osmosis plants.

"It has been observed that proper relief is being given to the long suffering people of the district, which has been declared a calamity-hit area since 2014. It appears that the relief work is progressing in a suitable and timely manner and that it will continue in this regard. It also appears that the relief work is being carried out in accordance with the law as is being claimed by the civil administration," the judge wrote in his concluding remarks.

Since February 2014, six phases of wheat distribution have been completed and the seventh phase began on May 15. According to the DC, the number of beneficiary families was increased from 235,765 in the first phase to 259,946 in the sixth. Each family was given 50 kilogrammes of wheat a month.

The report also pointed out a few non-functioning RO plants. The DC informed the court that the Pak-Oasis company has been asked to launch a toll-free helpline to receive complaints about the defunct plants and to ensure that the complaints are immediately addressed. At the last hearing, the court was told that 68 RO plants of between 50,000 t0 100,000 gallons capacity per day, 319 of 15,000-GPD capacity and a 2MGD one in Mithi are functioning.

During the hearing on Thursday, the bench comprising justices Munib Akhtar and Muhamamd Iqbal Kalhoro ordered the arrest of a depot keeper of Chappar Din Shah, Chachro taluka, for alleged misappropriation of wheat. Mir Muhammad Bajeer, who appeared in the court, was arrested by Cantt police from the premises on the SHC's order. The bench will issue an order of the hearing on May 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2015.