Govt to distribute wheat among drought-hit families in seven districts

The Sindh government has decided to distribute wheat among the families affected by drought-like situation in hundreds of dehs of seven districts of the province.

In a high-level meeting held at the CM House on Tuesday, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also decided that the affected families will also be provided fodder and vaccination for their cattle.

Several Sindh government officials, including Minister for Health Dr Azra Pehchuho, Minister for Agriculture Ismail Rahu, Minister for Education Sardar Shah, Chief Secretary Major (retd) Azam Suleman Khan and representatives of departments attended the meeting.

In the previous cabinet meeting, the CM had constituted a committee under Board of Revenue Senior Member Dr Iqbal Durrani comprising the livestock, health, agriculture and public health engineering secretaries as well as the Mirpurkhas commissioner and Thar, Umerkot and Sanghar deputy commissioners. The committee was tasked to consult with all major stakeholders, including the civil administration and civil society, to understand the extent of drought, past relief measures and mechanism, impact and requirement of affected people.

Briefing the CM on Tuesday, Durrani said his team held a meeting on August 21 and then visited drought-affected areas from August 24 to 25. They also held meetings with divisional and district officers and members of civil society to get a clear view of the situation.

The committee reported that there was drought in 167 dehs of Thar (excluding five dehs of barrage area), in 25 dehs of Umerkot, 88 of Dadu, six of Thatta, 22 of Kambar Shahdadkot, seven of Sanghar and in a large part of Chundko taluka of Khairpur District.

It was pointed out that wheat distribution is already in process on the basis of the Benazir Income Support Programme database under which 175,565 families are beneficiaries, including 87,565 of Thar, 15,442 of Umerkot, 14,000 of Sanghar, 19,791 of Dadu, 47,945 of Jamshoro, 822 of Kambar Shahdadkot districts.

The chief minister said that the wheat distribution mechanism must be transparent with third party evaluation. He added that wheat already available with the food department must be distributed on the basis of UC based score card holders.

Water woes

Durrani also told the CM that water shortage was another major issue. Shah responded that he has a report that out of 590 reverse osmosis (RO) plants, 443 are functional and 147 non-functional due to the problems of electricity and other issues. He also said that 237 RO plants have been converted on solar energy and conversion of others was in progress.

The meeting was told that out of 81 water supply schemes, 43 are functional and 38 are non-functional. The CM then directed the Public Health Engineering Department to make all the non-functional water supply operational and report to him. He also directed the PHE department and the district administration to make necessary arrangements to provide drinking water to the affected villages through tankers.

The chief minister also said that the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company would also help them in the distribution of water tankers. Shah added that there was no mechanism for herd management, while no data was available regarding composition and body of herd and feed supplies.

He directed the livestock secretary to work out a plan for herd management mechanism. “I want a holistic approach to address drought such as wheat, fodder, water and medicine,” he said.