Flood survivors unhappy with unequal ration distribution

Hundreds of displaced people take to the streets and claim that authorities are not providing them dry rations.

SUKKUR: Hundreds of displaced people took to the streets on Sunday, claiming that authorities were not providing them dry rations and alleging that the police had arrested and beaten up three flood survivors. The protesters staged a sit-in on the National Highway near Kori Khoh bus stop, near labour colony, Mirpur Mathelo.

The protesters, led by Mushtaq Ali Khoso, Momin Shah and Siddiq Buriro, came out of the relief camp shouting slogans against the district administration, which, according to them, was not providing them with enough food supplies. They burned tyres and blocked the highway for two hours, suspending all traffic between Punjab and Sindh.

They accused the Mirpur Mathelo mukhtiarkar of favouritism and nepotism. “Whenever he brings dry ration, he hands the material to his favourite people who keep most of the supplies for themselves and distribute very little among the other occupants of the relief camp,” they complained.

According to the protesters, the police arrested three men from the relief camp on Saturday, identified as Abdul Ghani Banglani, Anwar Shah and Iqbal Shah, and have illegally detained them.

Meanwhile, SPO Mirpur Mathelo Asghar Shah along with a police team reached the protest and negotiated with the survivors, who demanded the immediate release of three men and equitable distribution of dry rations. All three detainees were released and the SPO assured them they would get equal amounts of food.

Talking to The Express Tribune, DDO Revenue, Ghotki, Danish Afzaal refuted the claims of the flood survivors and claimed that he was personally supervising the ration distribution and all the people with computerised identity cards are being given ration without any discrimination.

“We are distributing rations to the head of the family, not to the individuals, while the flood affected people are insisting [that we should be] providing ration to every CNIC holder,” he said.

Many of the flood victims come to the relief camps to get rations and then they go to live with their relatives in the nearby areas, according to Afzaal. “While people of the pacca areas are also coming to the camps for food, but they are not eligible.”

However, the DDO brushed aside accusations of illegal detention of the three men and said that some people were spreading rumours to agitate the flood-affected people for their own purposes. The largest relief camp in Ghotki district is set up in labour colony, Mirpur Mathelo, where 442 families (2,850 people) from Jacobabad and Kashmore are residing. The district administration, Ghotki, claims to be providing them with dry ration and complete medical facilities.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2010.