No child died of famine in Thar, claims CM Sindh
Qaim Ali Shah says development projects in Thar are not being showcased.
KARACHI (Dunya News) – Addressing the session at Sindh Assembly on Monday, chief minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah claimed that not a single child died of famine in Thar and the facilities available in hospitals of Tharparkar are no less than any of the hospitals in the province.
He urged not to criticize the government unreasonably as government is continuously helping the people of Thar.
He further said it is not easy to feed 160 thousand people affirming to have installed 80 drinking water plants in Thar and constructing a road to Islam Kot with an expense of Rs 10 billion.
Qaim Ali Shah said government has been implementing development projects which are not being showcased.
Earlier today, Dunya News reported death of another malnutrition child at Mithi Hospital in Tharparkar, which has escalated the death toll to 25.
24 children are still under treatment whereas 2 of them have been declared critical. More than two dozen children have been referred to hospitals in Karachi and Hyderabad.
The distribution of wheat has been resumed by the Sindh government to counter drought which is restricted to the urban areas alone.
Rural settlers are forced to migrate towards urban areas and various districts of Sindh in the wake of scarcity of food and water and more than 600 villages have been vacated.
Water shortage has worsened in far flung areas of Chhachhro and Dhali and tube wells and filteration plants installed by Sindh government and Chhachhro administration have become totally unusable.
Affectees claim that 300 thousand mineral water bottles had been destroyed by the by Mithi administration.
Inattention to the dearth situation in Sindh will give rise to more deaths whereas Sindh Minister for Anti-Corruption, Jails and Mines Manzoor Hussain Wassan has vowed to take action against corrupt officials in Mithi.
Earlier, two people died due to food shortage in Tharparkar. Death toll due to food shortage had reached 20. Sindh government had no answers for the questions regarding expenditure of Rs. 30 million, allocated for providing clean drinking water to the people of Tharparkar.
Miseries of people living in Chhachhro Thar have not yet been reduced. Dry wells, filtration plants and tube wells force the people to die of thirst. Migration of cattle and hundreds of caravans is still continuing in Thar for saving their lives. Two more kids died due to shortage of food in Civil Hospital Tharparkar.
In the previous week, a 5-year old Jam son of Ardaan habitant of Dabbo Wali Muhammad, a suburban village in Tharpakar and a 5-year old Chauthi daughter of Nibraaj who belonged to the village Mithi Kanar who had long been suffering due dearth of food died.
At least 53 children are admitted and are being treated in Mithi Civil Hospital whereas 3 out of them are said to be in critical condition. Sindh government has labeled Tharparkar as calamity region but the local administration has not initiated any relief work.
Famine has been consistent in Tharpakar due to lack of rainfalls from past three consecutive years. The situation has now worsened and people are getting into grave trouble, reason being scarcity of food and inadequate supply water. Deficiency of necessities to children has proved to be the sole contributor towards the increased loss of life.
