Once bitten: Sindh’s farmers plan class action suit against govt
For a second year running, crops across millions of acres were destroyed by breaches in the irrigation system.
HYDERABAD:
Maddened farmers are gathering signatures to file a class action suit against the state in the Supreme Court for government negligence that they argue exacerbated the flooding in Sindh.
For the second year, monsoon rains devastated the province’s rural economy. “We will go to court with 10,000 to 12,000 signatures after taking all representative organisations for farmers on board,” said Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar, the president of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, at a press conference on Friday.
The monsoon rains and the ensuing floods caused by overflows and breaches in the irrigation and drainage systems cut a swathe through agricultural fields, destroying millions of acres of Kharif crops.
On September 5, the Sindh Agriculture Department released statistics, according to which it is estimated that 15.9 million acres from about 44 million acres of cotton, rice, sugarcane, chilli, tomato, onion, musk melon, Kharif vegetables and banana crops in Sindh have been destroyed.
The chamber has said that the figures are “too little, too early”. “We have lost at least 70% of our crops by today and if the rainfall continues, the destruction will only get worse,” he said.
Dr Qamar, who is the brother of federal minister Syed Naveed Qamar, said taking action was unavoidable against officials of all relevant departments whose negligence and corruption contributed to the misery brought on by the natural disaser.
“Perhaps we learned nothing from the catastrophe brought by the super flood last year,” he lamented.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Hassan Askari of the Sindh Small Farmers Association supported the move to file a lawsuit. However, he said that for now the entire focus should be on rescuing people. “Taking the officials to task has become necessary but it should be definitely done in the next phase,” he said.
Meanwhile, the chamber has demanded the government completely waive the loans of small farmers who cultivate less than 50 acres and those growing on more than 50 acres should repay only the principal amount, without interest.
They also called for free seed, agricultural inputs and a subsidy on fertiliser for affected farmers. “The price of a bag of urea should be brought down to Rs1,200 from the existing Rs1,800 with the help of a subsidy,” demanded Nabi Bux Sathio from this chamber.
As the rain continued to fall, lower Sindh’s Thatta district became one of the worst hit, said a government handout on Saturday. As many as 1,086,638 people from 494 villages have been affected. The 10 union councils of Jati and Mirpur Bathoro talukas have been severely affected as 165,216 acres are submerged and 25,336 acres of standing crop has gone to waste. The district government has set up seven relief camps for 1,071 people.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2011.
Maddened farmers are gathering signatures to file a class action suit against the state in the Supreme Court for government negligence that they argue exacerbated the flooding in Sindh.
For the second year, monsoon rains devastated the province’s rural economy. “We will go to court with 10,000 to 12,000 signatures after taking all representative organisations for farmers on board,” said Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar, the president of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, at a press conference on Friday.
The monsoon rains and the ensuing floods caused by overflows and breaches in the irrigation and drainage systems cut a swathe through agricultural fields, destroying millions of acres of Kharif crops.
On September 5, the Sindh Agriculture Department released statistics, according to which it is estimated that 15.9 million acres from about 44 million acres of cotton, rice, sugarcane, chilli, tomato, onion, musk melon, Kharif vegetables and banana crops in Sindh have been destroyed.
The chamber has said that the figures are “too little, too early”. “We have lost at least 70% of our crops by today and if the rainfall continues, the destruction will only get worse,” he said.
Dr Qamar, who is the brother of federal minister Syed Naveed Qamar, said taking action was unavoidable against officials of all relevant departments whose negligence and corruption contributed to the misery brought on by the natural disaser.
“Perhaps we learned nothing from the catastrophe brought by the super flood last year,” he lamented.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Hassan Askari of the Sindh Small Farmers Association supported the move to file a lawsuit. However, he said that for now the entire focus should be on rescuing people. “Taking the officials to task has become necessary but it should be definitely done in the next phase,” he said.
Meanwhile, the chamber has demanded the government completely waive the loans of small farmers who cultivate less than 50 acres and those growing on more than 50 acres should repay only the principal amount, without interest.
They also called for free seed, agricultural inputs and a subsidy on fertiliser for affected farmers. “The price of a bag of urea should be brought down to Rs1,200 from the existing Rs1,800 with the help of a subsidy,” demanded Nabi Bux Sathio from this chamber.
As the rain continued to fall, lower Sindh’s Thatta district became one of the worst hit, said a government handout on Saturday. As many as 1,086,638 people from 494 villages have been affected. The 10 union councils of Jati and Mirpur Bathoro talukas have been severely affected as 165,216 acres are submerged and 25,336 acres of standing crop has gone to waste. The district government has set up seven relief camps for 1,071 people.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2011.