Rumpus at NADRA centre: 33 injured as police, survivors clash
SHIKARPUR: Slow pace of issuance of Watan cards and lack of facilities and mismanagement at NADRA centres for registration of flood victims led to rumpus in Shikarpur and Thatta on Saturday.
Thirty flood victims and three policemen were injured in a clash outside the Public School in Shikarpur during distribution of Watan cards.
Police restored to tear gas shelling and aerial firing to disperse the unruly mob.
New Foujdari police have arrested more than 50 people. No FIR was registered till late Saturday evening.
In Thatta, three women and a man were injured when police resorted to baton charge on an unruly crowd of flood victims which had gathered in Makli to get Watan cards.
The injured were identified as Ibrahim Jakhro, Ms Fatima, Ms Khattan and Ms Najma.
The displaced people blocked National Highway outside Civil Hospital Makli where the injured persons were brought for treatment.
According to sources, the card seekers had lost temper due to lack of facilities, including drinking water, and mismanagement in the NADRA office.
So far 20,000 out of 150,000 families living in Makli and adjoining areas had been issued the cards.
Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palijo in a statement has advised NADRA to deploy more teams and complete the registration process expeditiously so that the IDPs could get their cards conveniently.
In H yderabad, the Indus Development Organisation, an NGO, has accused the government officials responsible for registration and issuance of Watan Cards of taking bribes from the poor flood affected people to do the job.
Addressing a crowd of flood-affected people who held a demonstration and a sit-in at the bypass here on Saturday in protest against non-provision of relief goods, the NGO leaders Zain Daudpoto, Ms Sehar Rizvi and Abdul Jabbar Erri said that registration for the card was also being done on the basis of ‘Sefarish’.
They alleged that the flood-affected people had been abandoned by the authorities concerned and the government had failed to evolve a workable policy to rehabilitate them. The survivors were not only living in relief camps but also in their relative’s homes, they said.
They said that the unfortunate victims were being provided substandard food and harassed by the managements of schools and colleges where they were sheltering. They wanted them to the premises.
The poor people would not be able to return to their homes for the next six months because water was still standing in their villages, they said, adding that the Rs20,000 provided through Watan Card were not enough even for transportation of a family.They demanded that the registration of flood-affected people should be carried out at their camps and they should be provided quality food and urged the authorities to take notice of their harassment by the managements of schools and colleges.
A delegation of NGO’s leaders led by Zain Daudpoto later met MNA Ameer Ali Shah Jamote, Sindh Fisheries Minister Zahid Ali Bhurgari and Hyderabad DCO Aftab Ahmed Khatri to apprise them of the plight of flood-affected people.
The delegation was assured that all the flood-affected people would be registered and issued Watan Cards and no one would be forced to leave the camps. Whoever wanted to go back would be provided transport by the government, the delegation was told.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/3/2010
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