HYDERABAD, July 16: The Sindh Democratic Forum (SDF), the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) and the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) on Monday demanded appointment of a judicial commission to conduct probe into the failure of federal and provincial governments in responding adequately to the catastrophe caused by rains and floods in the province.

Speaking at a joint news conference at the press club, SDF Convenor Abrar Kazi, SCA President Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah and a senior member of SAB, Aslam Baloch, urged the federal and provincial governments issue an appeal to the international donors for funds for the rehabilitation of flood victims of Dadu, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Thatta and Badin districts.

They accused the federal and provincial governments of underestimating the scale of disaster in the two provinces and disputed figures released by the National Disaster Management Authority, which put the number of flooded villages in Sindh at 1,400.

According to independent sources and media reports, the number of flooded villages far exceeded the official figure, they said and added that the protective embankments in Dadu and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts crumbled against the extraordinary pressure of floodwater.

The leaders said that more than 30 people lost their lives and scores contracted gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and skin diseases in the wake of rains and floods but they were still awaiting medical treatment.

They feared that more people, particularly women and children, were likely to die of hunger, lack of clean drinking water and acutely unhygienic conditions. The helpless people were compelled to live in the open in the shabbily erected tents on roads and embankments of channels while a large number of people were still waiting for aid as they had lost literally everything to the floods, they leaders said.

According to rough estimates, standing crops on 300,000 to 500,000 acres had been destroyed completely and the growers would have to wait for another year to cultivate their lands if water was not drained out immediately, they said.

They said that the situation went from bad to worst after the influential landlords selfishly breached water channels, drains and flood protective bunds on their own to save their lands.

They demanded that the government should prepare a comprehensive rehabilitation plan to help flood victims rebuild their houses and enable them to cultivate crops.

The government needed to put in place an integrated irrigation and flood protection scheme to protect Dadu and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts from floods in future, they stressed.

They called for action against revenue officials, public representatives and influential people who had allotted natural drains and pathways to their cronies.

The leaders emphasised that the government should review design, construction and maintenance of LBOD and RBOD, which had proved disastrous.