Pakistan: 5,000 ration bags sent to Thar

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Karachi - The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Sindh has claimed to have distributed 5,000 ration bags among the drought-hit people of Tharparkar. Another consignment of 5,000 bags is on the way to Mithi.In a statement issued on Monday, the PDMA asked deputy commissioners and other officials in Khairpur, Sukkur, Ghotki, Benazirabad and Badin for tackling the shortage of necessary food items and medicines on an emergency basis.PDMA Director-General Commander (retd) Salman Shah said children with frail health required the most care in the form of life-saving medicines, clean drinking water, milk and ORS to prevent dehydration. Teams of doctors have been dispatched to Thar by the Sindh government and they had begun providing emergency medical services to the ailing children.Shah said the PDMA had also asked a factory to provide “high-energy” biscuits and the Karachi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) for the provision of 12,000 mineral water bottles and two containers of relief goods, which have already reached Tharparkar.Meanwhile, the Sindh Food Department said 883,000 kilograms of wheat had been distributed among the drought-affected people.According to the handout, 2,217 wheat bags have been distributed in Mithi, 2,932 in Islamkot, 1,221 in Diplo, 1,859 bags in Chachhro and 594 bags in Nangarparkar via the Sindh Relief Department. Each bag of wheat weighed 100 kilograms.Sindh Food Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar said there was sufficient wheat available in the department’s procurement centres in Tharparkar.The food department is coordinating with the relief department and taking all measures to address the problems of drought-affected people.More relief goodsDifferent religious parties have also started sending relief goods to Tharparkar and are also collecting funds for the drought-hit victims.The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Sunni Tehreek (ST), Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, Shia Ulema Council have set up camps in different areas of the city to collect relief goods.In a statement, the JI said that trucks loaded with relief goods and volunteers had been sent to Thar where the party had also set up medical camps.The MWM spokesman, Ali Ahmer, said eatables, essential commodities and doctors were dispatched to the affected area.Meanwhile, the ST spokesman, Fahimuddin Sheikh, said that flour, sugar, dry milk and drinking water had been sent to the district.  /129