No relief: Eight more children die in Tharparkar

MITHI:

Eight more children died in separate areas of Tharparkar district on Tuesday, raising the death toll to 96, including 89 children, in the last 49 days.

Rozina Mehranpoto, who was only 25 days old, died at Civil Hospital, Mithi, the largest hospital in the drought-affected district. She was brought to the hospital in a critical condition and breathed her last during treatment.

Seven other children died in their villages. Four-month-old Farzana belonged to Lakhwaki village in Diplo tehsil. In Alamsir village, 40-day-old Qurban Rahimoon and twins Shehnaz and Mehnaz passed away. Meanwhile, six-month-old Umeedan, the three-day-old son of Sohrab Rajar and the three-day-old daughter of Nawab Rajar died in Hayat Halepoto village in Chachro tehsil.

'Deliberate' water shortage

Hundreds of people from three of Tharparkar's barrage union councils, Khitlari, Kaloi and Bhitaro, staged a sit-in at Mithi-Naukot Road, blocking it for five hours. They were protesting against what they said was a 'deliberate' water shortage in their areas for several days. They alleged that irrigation officials were involved in criminal negligence and were providing water to influential persons instead.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2014.