Sindh Govt declares Thar as drought-hit area

KARACHI: The government of Sindh has declared Thar and parts of Umarkot as drought-hit areas, while, decided to install desalination plant in Karachi.

The new Sindh cabinet taken decisions in its first meeting, presided over by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Monday.

The meeting also issued instructions to the authorities concerned to ensure cleanliness during Eidul Azha.

The meeting also decided that Keenjhar, Haleji, Hydero and other depressions be developed as a reliable reservoir for water supply to Karachi.

Provincial Minister Sardar Shah and Adviser Murtaza Wahab after a meeting in a briefing to the media said that all the 167 dehs of Tharparkar and 25 dehs of Umerkot were calamity hit.

They added that Mithi received only 58mm rain during the last three months while Islamkot received 24mm, Diplo 51mm, Kaloi 10mm, Chachhro 105mm, Dahli 120mm and Nagarparkar 40mm of rain.

Barrister Wahab further said that 323,435 families in Thar and 43,240 families in Umerkot were affected. He maintained that the cabinet decided to give 50kg of wheat to each family every month.

The chief minister directed the senior member to seek information about drought in arid areas of Achhro Thar, Kachho and Kohistan from the deputy commissioners concerned so that their residents could be helped.

Mr Shah also directed Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani to start work on installation of a desalination plant in Karachi so that the water issue of the city could be resolved. He also formed a committee under Ghani to prepare a report within 12 days.

The Sindh government also proposed to convert the Governor House into a museum and its land into a public park, if the governor chose to vacate it.

The chief minister said that the last government had passed a three months budget to enable the caretaker government to make necessary expenditures up to September 2018.

“Now, we have to make new budget before Sept 30 and present it in the house.

“The financial situation of the province is not so good because the funds we were expecting from the federal government have not been received,” he said.