MITHI:SindhMinisterforPopulation Welfare, Syed Ali Mardan Shah, has said the government will no more tolerate any negligence in fair and transparent distribution of relief goods among drought-stricken people of Tharparkar.

The government would make all possible efforts to ensure that sufficient quantity of wheat reached each and every deserving family of Thar free of cost, he said.

He was speaking at a meeting at Darbar Hall here on Wednesday, which was attended by government functionaries, officers of district administration and elected representatives of the area. It was held to review ongoing process of relief distribution across the district.

The minister said that complaints about misappropriation of relief wheat by some vested interest groups were pouring in from various drought-hit parts of Tharparkar.

The district administration, therefore,shouldchalk outaschedule,establish relief centers at government schoolsin the drought-hit villages and do its utmost to ensure transparency in the distribution of wheat under the supervision of local monitoring committees, consisting of a representative of district administration, notable of the area, head master of the school, a media person and villagers, he said.

MNA Faqir Sher Mohammad Bilalani, MPAs Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani and Dr Khatumal Jivan said the recent rains in the Thar desert were too little, erratic and belated which would prove neither beneficial for cultivation of crops nor help the grass to grow to maturity.

No reports were received about cultivation of land from most parts of the sandy region from where many calamity-affected families had migrated along with their starving cattle to safe places and urban areas in search of survival, they said.

They urged the government to announce a special relief package for Thar and continue relief operations for the remaining months of the drought.

Meanwhile, deputy commissioner of Tharparkar and relief coordinator, Asif Akram, briefed the meeting about theamount of rainfall across the desert and said so far the talulcas of Mithi, Diplo, Chhachbro, Nagarparkar and Islamkot had received 174mm, 167mm, 31mm, 77mm and 29mm rain, respectively.

The figure of rain in Dahli taluka was not available because there was no rain measuring instrument in the town.

The figures showed the recent rain was not sufficient enough to end severity of the prevailing drought in the desert.

The meeting took into consideration the input of elected representatives and the deputy commissioner about the actual situation of drought in the desert and decided that a fresh and detailed survey in union councils of all six talukas of the district be carried out to determine the amount of rain fallen in the area and whether it was adequate to help cultivate crops and grow grass and whether it would help the grass grow big enough to be fodder for the cattle.

The meeting was also attended among others by Syed Ahmed Awan, secretary food, Malik Asrar, relief commissioner and senior member of the board of revenue and officials of other departments.