[DAWN] Expressing extreme annoyance over the provincial government failure to supply food and relief to the people in drought-hit parts of Tharparkar, the Sindh High Court on Monday directed the authorities concerned to request army aviation and other departments to airlift relief goods to the 22,758 families who are still without food and relief supplies.A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar was seized with the hearing of three identical petitions pertaining to the drought-hit people of the desert.
The bench also ordered the formation of a committee, headed by the additional district and sessions judge of Tharparkar, to check and monitor the performance of health officials posted in the drought-hit area. A senior doctor of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation and Dr Sono Khanghrani of the Sindh Rural Support Organization were ordered to be the members of the committee.
The bench visibly became irked as it went through a report of the senior member of board of revenue and relief commissioner who conceded that as many as 22,758 families were still without food and relief supplies.
"It has come on record that several deaths were caused due to acute shortage of food in Tharparkar," said Chief Justice Baqar, adding that it was sheer injustice to the people of the province.
The bench directed the committee to file a report regarding the adequacy, efficiency and effectiveness of various health facilities in the area by April 8, the next date of hearing.
The court also directed the provincial government to place on record the entire mechanism of the food supply system in the province and more particularly in its far-flung areas.