MIRPURKHAS: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed provincial irrigation minister to survey different areas in Tharparkar where check dams can be built to harness rainwater in the rain-dependent arid region.

The chief minister was addressing party workers of Mirpurkhas division at a privately owned banquet hall in Mirpurkhas on Tuesday.

“We are committed to you [people] and the cause to eradicate poverty, usher in new vistas of development and create job opportunities to bring prosperity to the province,” he said.

The party workers of Tharparkar complained to the chief minister that several reverse osmosis plants in Thar had gone out of order. The CM said that he had prepared an umbrella scheme for the repair of all out-of-order plants.

The workers pointed out that Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (hesco) had imposed prolonged loadshedding on villages from Naukot to Mithi and as a result the villagers could not even provide water to their cattle. The CM asked the energy minister to talk to Hesco authorities and get the issue resolved.

Thari women workers complained that there was only one girls’ college in Mithi where girls from across Tharparkar district were receiving education. They had to travel long distances daily to reach the college, they said.

The chief minister said that he would talk to the minister for education to prepare a scheme for the construction of a girls’ hostel in Mithi. The party workers complained that LBOD was flooding lands in Jhudo and Sindhri after remodeling and pointed out that Sindhri badly needed a drainage system. The CM said that his government was working on it.

The workers proposed construction of more check dams in Tharpark so that rainwater could be harnessed for agriculture. More than 70 check dams constructed in Thar had irrigated water-starved lands and helped produced onions and other crops, they said. These dams had proved to be a source of agro-activity and brought prosperity, they said.

The chief minister directed the irrigation minister to survey the areas where check dams could be built.

The party workers of Mirpurkhas told the chief minister that Mirpurkhas to Mirwah road had become dilapidated and needed to be reconstructed on priority basis and Jamrao and Mithrao canals needed to be lined to save water and control waterlogging.

The chief minister was also requested to order desilting of Nara Canal to improve its water flow and help small growers receive water for their lands.

He announced establishment of a public school in Mirpukhas and said the party workers of Umerkot had demanded beautification of their district headquarters.

The meeting was also attended by PPP Sindh president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, general secretary Waqar Mahdi, MNAs Mir Munawar Talpur, Aftab Shah Jilani, Pir Ameer Ali Shah, Dr Muhesh Malani, MPAs, local bodies’ representatives, local party leaders and workers.

In Nawabshah, the chief minister said that problem of wheat procurement aggravated after the wheat procured by the interim federal government started arriving at the port.

He said at a gathering of party workers, office bearers and elected representatives of the districts of Shaheed Benazirabad, Naushahro Feroze and Sanghar at a banquet hall in Nawabshah that the untimely import of wheat caused huge losses to growers.

He said that he had suspended four district food controllers after receiving complaints of unfair distribution of gunny bags and asked the irrigation minister to conduct an inquiry into the growers’ complaints.

“We have 400,000 tonnes of wheat in our godowns while only 900,000 tonnes are required to meet the province’s needs. We have already procured 600,000 of fresh crop whereas 300,000 more is being procured from the areas,” he said.

He said that thanks to Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the province received 1.7 billion dollars inclusive of loans from World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other donors. These loans were obtained unconditionally and proved a great help in rehabilitating flood-affected areas, he said.

Party workers of Naushahro Feroze and Nawabshah aired similar complaints before the chief minister who issued directives to the ministers and functionaries concerned to resolve them.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2024