LARKANA:Farmers’ enemy subsidy scheme has been made to make Sindh irrigated and provide water to farmers, which we condemn and appeal to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto to focus on small farmers whose landholdings is limited to 12 acres and their number is 82% in Sindh.
Our own government is doing injustice with them which is regrettable. This was stated by Syed Sirajul Oliya Rashdi in a statement issued here on Saturday. He said that through an advertisement, one week time has been given for submitting an application for a solar tube well with condition 50 acres land ownership indicates that the scheme is intended to support only a specific group of peoples. He said many farmer friends may know that according to the Sindh Revenue Record, the number of landholders up to 12 acres is 82% within Sindh, and the purpose of having a condition of 50 acres is to exclude the majority from the scheme.
He said that incompetence of institutions also showed that throughout the year, they remained silent, now when the fiscal year is only a month and a half away to end the scheme has now been launched which meqans near and dear ones and blue eyed boys will be benefitted and the rest of budget will be digested which is unjustified.
He said that the most striking thing is that the deadline for submission of an application along with a demand draft of Rs10,000 had been fixed upto 15th May and both 14th and 15th May were Saturday and Sunday during which provincial departments remained closed along with most of the bank branches so where would such a farmer make a demand draft? Rashdi questioned what message do such bureaucrats, policy-makers and their supporters wanted to convey to the poor farmers community, the people and the growers to strengthen the economy or to destroy Sindh’s agricultural economy?
Meanwhile, in an emergency meeting of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, Larkana, was also chaired by Syed Sirajul Oliya Rashdi, in which Syed Sarfraz Shah, Faqir Atta Muhammad Hub, Hussain Bakhsh, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Qasim and other members demanded of the Sindh and federal governments that no water had so far been released from Guddu Barrage into Ghotki Feeder, Rainy Canal, Begary Canal and Sukkur Barrage’s Dudu Canal, Rice Canal.
They said that farmers in Sukkur Barrage Right Bank were dying from water droplets. They said that even a drop of water was not available for cattle and pets were dying of thirst. They said that before any major human tragedy arises, please note the seriousness of the problem. They said underground water was extremely arsenic in Kashmore, Kandh Kot, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Larkana, Dadu and Jamshoro districts, hence, the residents should be supplied water on an emergency basis and rescue livestock and pets immediately. They said that human lives were at stake, now even a single moment of neglect could turn into a major tragedy adding it was a matter of human lives, hence rulers should consider.