Sindh govt neglects Badin: Fehmida Mirza

Former National Assembly speaker announces relief packages for the district's farmers

HYDERABAD: The Sindh government has not even bothered to take notice of the destruction in Badin, said National Assembly former speaker Fehmida Mirza while addressing the local media in the city on Wednesday.

Taking notice of the calamity, she announced relief packages for the farmers in the districts. She also demanded waiving off agricultural loans.



Fehmida, along with her husband, former home minister Zulfiqar Mirza, visited the submerged villages. "The crops of around 80 per cent of the farmers have been swamped," she said. Residents claim that hundreds of villages, including vast agricultural fields spread over thousands of acres have been submerged, she added.

Read: Encroaching on provincial subjects: Qaim advises Rangers against interveining in Sindh's matters

The Left Bank Outfall Drain, a drainage channel which starts from Ghotki district in upper Sindh and ends in the Arabian sea at the coast of Badin, is said to be the primary cause of the flooding.

The drain was reportedly flowing above its designed capacity of 4,500 cusecs and the saline water channels that drain waste water from the agricultural fields remained choked for several days, keeping the connected areas flooded.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2015.