Protests held for drainage of floodwater

HYDRABAD:

The delay in draining the rain and flood water which is keeping towns, villages and agricultural fields submerged, inadequate relief aid and burgeoning health problems have been triggering protests across Sindh on a daily basis.

Not to mention the travails of obtaining cash from Benazir Income Support Program for which the women spend hours under the scorching sun or in the dark of the night besides having to bribe the agents as well.

The protesters blocked the National Highway at two different locations in Sindh, including the Matiari district, in addition to blocking the other inter-district roads.

The residents of Mirpurkhas gathered at the press club to vent anger against the officers of the district administration, municipality and the irrigation department.

"It has been almost a month since it last rained but our neighbourhoods are still under water," claimed a protester Muhammad Mubeen. According to him, the stagnant water reeks of foul smell and it has been creating health issues for their families. "We can't walk on the road without getting our clothes dirty," he deplored.

Mariam, another protester, pointed out that a child, Ali Sher, died in their locality the other day while many other dwellers are sick with malaria. The protesters said they have time and again complained to the concerned officers to drain the water and clean their areas but to no avail. They also complained that their areas have not been fumigated.

Separately, hundreds of rain affected people staged a protest outside the office of Assistant Commissioner in Jhuddo town of Mirpurkhas, complaining that they have not been receiving relief aid regularly. They blocked Mithi-Mirpurkhas road in protest. The people told that the revenue officials collected their national identity cards many days ago but they are yet to receive the aid.

The residents of the riverbed villages in Hyderabad staged a sit-in protest outside Shahbaz Building, which houses the regional offices of various government departments, blaming the local authorities for neglecting their plight of displacement. They said dozens of villages have come under the flood water owing to which they moved out of their homes and were living in makeshift camps pitched up in Kohsar town.

Asghar Laghari, Iqbal Khaskhelie and other people who spoke at the sit-in alleged that the deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner Latifabad and other revenue officials are providing relief items only to those people who are politically affiliated with Pakistan Peoples Party. They said they have neither received tents or mosquito nets nor edible items or water.

The protesters in Khairpur district blocked the National Highway, demanding urgent steps to drain the rain water. They said not only their houses and fields are submerged, their people are dying due to viral infections, gastroenteritis and snake bites. The snake bites claimed three lives in just one day, they claimed and identified the deceased as 40 years old Mumtaz Kalhoro, 20 years old Ali Nawaz and 12 years old Faizan Aiwan.

Similar protests were held in the district headquarters and towns of Dadu, Kambar-Shahdadkot, Jacobabad, Badin, Tando Allahyar, Larkana, Naushehro Feroze, Sanghar and other districts.

Scam in BISP

The Mirwah Gorchani police raided Ehsas Kifalat Center in Mirpurkhas and arrested an agent, Muhammad Ishaq Noohani, for unlawfully deducting cash from the grant of Rs25,000 which is being paid as a special grant to the flood affected people. Noohani was later booked in a FIR on the state's complaint.

The beneficiaries of BISP held a protest demonstration on a road in Guddu area of Kashmore-Kandhkot district, decrying delay in release of the cash grant and alleged bribe seeking. The women said they are made to wait for the grants for the whole amid hot summer days. "There are no tents to protect us from sun. We don't even get anything to eat or drink," complained Wazeeran Chandio. The protesters urged the police to arrest the agent for alleged corruption.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2022.