Sindh’s peasants, laborers hit hard by floods

More than 10 million farmers, agricultural laborers, and daily wagers among flood affectees

NAWABSHAH:

The unprecedented monsoon rains and catastrophic floods have left a trail of destruction on both sides of the mighty Indus, displacing and affecting millions of people. The worst hit among them were peasants and labourers.

According to the Hari Welfare Association (HWA), millions of peasants, agricultural labourers and women in 23 districts of Sindh have been severely affected due to the torrential rains and floods as their houses have collapsed, cattle heads perished, and crops destroyed.

These poor people who have been uprooted from their villages are now on the roads without food and shelter. “Children, women and elderly are suffering from infectious diseases like dengue and malaria due to stagnant rainwater,” said HWA President Akram Ali Khasekheli. He alleged that the limited food packages provided by the government have been distributed on a political basis.

According to a recent report released by the PDMA Sindh, around 11 million people have been affected by the rains and floods in Sindh, but Khasekheli contradicted, claiming that the actual number is more than 15 million, including more than 10 million farmers, agricultural labourers, and daily wagers.

More than five million acres of cultivated land has been destroyed and 90 per cent of it was cotton crop, which has affected millions of farmers who are now more indebted due to their crops destruction. This situation will lead to forced labour and the children of peasants who are studying will also suffer from child labour, he said. It has been estimated that more than 10 million children will be out of school.

Khasekheli was of the opinion that during the monsoon rains, the government had failed to provide immediate help to people in Sindh, which resulted in many casualties. The provincial health system has collapsed as it has failed to provide emergency health services to the flood-affected people who are now suffering from various diseases.

According to Khaskhali, the influential landlords diverted floodwater with illegal breaches to save their agricultural lands and bungalows at the cost of houses of millions of poor people.

He blamed the government’s failure to clean and fortify canal embankments for the destruction in Sindh. He demanded that the money reportedly spent on RBOD and LBOD repairs must be investigated by a court of law.

The government has failed to drain out water from agricultural lands and it seems that the wheat crop could not be cultivated on time which may aggravate the food crisis in the country.

Khaskhali said that strict measures should be taken to prevent forced labour by activating the vigilance committees formed in every district under the Sindh Bonded Labour System Abolition Act 2015, and under The Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2018. The Sindh Child Protection Authority and National Commission on the Rights of Child must play a role and push the government to make concrete policy to return out-of-school children back to school.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2022.