Down under: They don’t want food, they want to get rid of stagnant water
There are roughly 2.2 million people in Khairpur district of which 900,000 had been affected.
SUKKUR:
Daily life in Khairpur has come a halt. The people are not concerned with their broken homes or relief goods - their main concern is draining out the stagnant rainwater.
The water not only restricts their movement but is also spreading diseases. The road which links Kingri, Akri and Pacca Chang to Nawabshah has been damaged and cannot be used. Some villages are still surrounded by two to three feet of water. Although the district administrations have set up relief camps, they are unable to help everyone.
The eight houses in the Ali Ganj Shar village are surrounded by one and a half foot of water. Mubarak Shar, a villager, told The Express Tribune that the Sindh Rural Support Organisation had distributed ration but the wheat looked stale.
He added that the district administration had provided them with a pump to drain out the water but it was taken away after two days to help other people. “This year we had sown cotton and sugarcane seeds but our hard work had gone down the drain quite literally,” he said while pointing at the destroyed crop in the field.
Mai Khanzadi Shar who helps women pluck left over cotton from the fields said that the crop on 32 acres of land had been ready when it started to rain. “You know we had bought all the seed and fertilizer on load like always and would have repaid it after harvesting but this time we have lost everything,” she said with a sad look on her face. “Reconstructing the house is not a problem for us, but how will sow the next crop when the lands are still flooded?”
Some villagers accused leaders of the ruling party of favouritism and said that they only gave aid to people from their villages. Manzoor Bhangwar from the Tahir Khan Bhangwar village said that whether it was about distributing relief goods or draining water the Pakistan Peoples Party leaders always put their people first. “Allah drowned all of us so why are they discriminating when they give out relief goods?” he asked.
An officer in the district administration told The Express Tribune that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was not ready to accept the claims made by the villagers or the extensive damage in the district. “The NDMA has agreed to provide us with 100,000 bags of ration for the flood affected people and only to the people in the worst hit areas,” he said. “Although the National Commission for Human Development and MNA Syeda Nafisa Shah is helping us some party leaders are trying to redirect the relief goods.”
Khairpur DCO Ghulam Abbas Baloch told The Express Tribune that he had personally dispatched relief goods to people in the flood affected areas. “The district is so large that it is difficult to cover the entire area,” he said. “Our first priority is to drain out the water and we have 98 pumps currently working around the clock to do so.”
So far the government has declared three out of the eight talukas in the district including Faiz Ganj and Thari Mir Wah as calamity hit. The people who live there will be receiving Pakistan cards which will help them write off agricultural loans, water tax and give them free seed and fertiliser.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2011.
Daily life in Khairpur has come a halt. The people are not concerned with their broken homes or relief goods - their main concern is draining out the stagnant rainwater.
The water not only restricts their movement but is also spreading diseases. The road which links Kingri, Akri and Pacca Chang to Nawabshah has been damaged and cannot be used. Some villages are still surrounded by two to three feet of water. Although the district administrations have set up relief camps, they are unable to help everyone.
The eight houses in the Ali Ganj Shar village are surrounded by one and a half foot of water. Mubarak Shar, a villager, told The Express Tribune that the Sindh Rural Support Organisation had distributed ration but the wheat looked stale.
He added that the district administration had provided them with a pump to drain out the water but it was taken away after two days to help other people. “This year we had sown cotton and sugarcane seeds but our hard work had gone down the drain quite literally,” he said while pointing at the destroyed crop in the field.
Mai Khanzadi Shar who helps women pluck left over cotton from the fields said that the crop on 32 acres of land had been ready when it started to rain. “You know we had bought all the seed and fertilizer on load like always and would have repaid it after harvesting but this time we have lost everything,” she said with a sad look on her face. “Reconstructing the house is not a problem for us, but how will sow the next crop when the lands are still flooded?”
Some villagers accused leaders of the ruling party of favouritism and said that they only gave aid to people from their villages. Manzoor Bhangwar from the Tahir Khan Bhangwar village said that whether it was about distributing relief goods or draining water the Pakistan Peoples Party leaders always put their people first. “Allah drowned all of us so why are they discriminating when they give out relief goods?” he asked.
An officer in the district administration told The Express Tribune that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was not ready to accept the claims made by the villagers or the extensive damage in the district. “The NDMA has agreed to provide us with 100,000 bags of ration for the flood affected people and only to the people in the worst hit areas,” he said. “Although the National Commission for Human Development and MNA Syeda Nafisa Shah is helping us some party leaders are trying to redirect the relief goods.”
Khairpur DCO Ghulam Abbas Baloch told The Express Tribune that he had personally dispatched relief goods to people in the flood affected areas. “The district is so large that it is difficult to cover the entire area,” he said. “Our first priority is to drain out the water and we have 98 pumps currently working around the clock to do so.”
So far the government has declared three out of the eight talukas in the district including Faiz Ganj and Thari Mir Wah as calamity hit. The people who live there will be receiving Pakistan cards which will help them write off agricultural loans, water tax and give them free seed and fertiliser.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2011.