Daily Times

KARACHI: The commission to probe deaths in Tharparkar owing to famine on Monday handed over a 300-page-long fact-finding report to Sindh Chief Secretary Siddique Memon.

The commission in its detailed findings held different provincial departments responsible for the devastation in district Thar. The commission has also noted in the report that the provincial government lacked good governance.

According to reports, the commission held a meeting in the committee room of the Sindh chief secretary on Monday but the chief secretary arrived late in the meeting, which had irked the chief of the commission in chair Abdul Fattah Malik, who showed his displeasure to the chief secretary.

The commission in its report finely pointed the worst progress of a few provincial departments such as Ministry of Education, Health Ministry, ministries of Irrigation, Livestock, Population Welfare, Agriculture, Rehabilitation, Revenue, Tourism, Forests and Wildlife and held them directly responsible for the famine in Thar due to which hundreds of infants had died.

The commission on the governance stated in its report that the governance entirely missing in Thar and in just three years, six deputy commissioners were shuffled and rules for the merit were vastly violated.

The report further said that there is an acute shortage of medical doctors and paramedics in Thar and those available are working with reduced salary packages.

The report also revealed that child marriage in Thar is beyond control while literacy rate is almost near to deadline and the ministries of tourism, education, agriculture and livestock failed to deliver to the people of Thar.

The reports giving sufficient stress on water claimed that the acute water crisis played a major role in deaths of famine-hit infants and others in Thar and that the installation of reverse osmosis water filtration plants would not serve the need of the people for long term basis.

The commission in its fact finding report recommended that Thar should immediately be declared as calamity-affected district and the Thar Development Authority (TDA) should start working with accelerated pace for developing the district.

The commission also recommended that the doctors working in Thar should be paid a minimum of Rs 400, 000 as salary per month, the officers should be posted in Thar only on merit and implementation on law for restricting the child marriage should also be ensured immediately.