Patience of flood victims at Sehwan boils over

Desperate people storm govt warehouse to loot relief supplies

SEHWAN:

Dozens of families uprooted from various areas like Mehar, Khairpur Nathan, and Juhi, have been camping near Lal Bagh in Sehwan where they stormed a government warehouse on Thursday to loot relief goods stored inside.

The desperate flood victims accused the local administration of favoritism in the distribution of relief goods while adding that they would have never done that if transparency was maintained.

More and more affected families are being shifted to Sehwan from the swamped areas in trucks and tractor trolleys. The affectees claimed that they have been camping in Lal Bagh for several days, but no one has come to offer them any kind of assistance.

They further claimed that they are starving, their children are sick, but neither the administration nor any charity organization or NGO has come to give them food, medicines or tents. "Only people living around Manchar Lake are receiving relief goods," one displaced person said. "We are being treated like animals as cooked rice in shopping bags is thrown at us," he complained.

A village, namely Goth Dost Muhammad, on the bank of Manchar Lake, has been destroyed by the calamitous rains and flooding. The villagers have lost everything, but they claimed that no government institution has come to offer them any kind of relief.

Some of the villagers managed to evacuate their families to other places, such as Lal Bagh, but a large number of them could not find the means to move out. "Our houses have been destroyed and our families are living under the open sky," one villager said.

The patience of the hungry flood victims ran out on Thursday and they stormed a warehouse where relief goods were stored in the Revenue Rest House Sehwan. Some of them scaled the walls of the warehouse, looted relief goods and fled. As the news reached other flood victims and they also rushed to the warehouse, the administration also came into action.

The Deputy Commissioner Jamshoro, along with Rangers personnel, reached the spot to disperse the desperate flood victims. They had to resort to baton charge to disperse the looters who said that their children are dying of hunger and disease in hot weather conditions.

"Administration officials give away relief items to their favorites. We would have never looted the warehouse if food items and tents were distributed transparently," one man said. According to the local administration, 600 tents and 1,000 ration bags were looted by the flood victims from the warehouse.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2022.