More than 315 dehs in seven districts of Sindh province have been stricken by drought, it was revealed at a high level meeting chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah who expressed anger over poor performance of concerned departments in this connection. On the other hand, reports had it Sindh Government has failed to implement a comprehensive relief work in said seven districts where residents have also been longing for water, fodder and vaccination to cattle, which is major source of their livelihood.
Murad Shah, however, directed the Secretary Livestock to work out a mechanism for herd management because there was no mechanism; no relevant data on herd and their feed supplies was available.
Chief Minister said he wanted a holistic approach to address drought by ensuring provision of wheat, fodder, water and medicine. He decided to distribute wheat among drought-affected residents besides fodder and vaccination for their cattle.
In the last cabinet meeting, Shah had constituted a committee under Senior Member Board of Revenue Dr Iqbal Durrani to understand the extent of drought, past relief measures and mechanism, impact and requirement of affected people. Sharing the report, he informed the meeting that there was drought in 167 dehs of Thar (excluding five dehs of barrage area), 25 of Umerkot, 88 of Dadu, six of Thatta, 22 of Kambar Shahdadkot, seven of Sanghar and in a large part of Chundko taluka of District Khairpur.
However, it was also pointed out that wheat distribution was already in process on the basis of BISP database under which families benefit from ongoing operation and they included: 87,565 families of Thar, 15442 of Umerkot, 14,000 of Sanghar, 19791 of Dadu, 47,945 of Jamshoro, 822 of Kambar Shahdadkot districts.
Chief Minister said that wheat distribution mechanism much be transparent with third party evaluation. He said wheat already available with food department must be distributed on the basis of UC-based score card holders.
Durrani also told Murad Shah that the water shortage was another major issue. At this, he said he has a report that out of 590 RO plants, 443 are functional and 147 non-functional due to the problems of electricity and other issues.
The high-level meeting was attended by Sindh Minister for Health; Dr Azra Pechuho, Minister for Agriculture Ismail Rahu, Minister for Education Sardar Shah, Chief Secretary Major Azam Suleman (retd), Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, Principal Secretary to the CM Sohail Rajput, senior member BOR Dr Iqbal Durrani, Secretary Fisheries & Livestock Dr Fazal Pechuho, Secretary Health Dr Usman Chachar, Secretary Agriculture Shafiq Mahesar, Secretary Local Government Khalid Hyder Shah, Secretary Food Rafiq Buriro and other concerned officers.
It is relevant to explain that the word deh is officially used to identify a devolved administrative unit of sub-division or tehsil/taluka of a district.
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