HYDERABAD:The Hari Welfare Association, a non-profit organization, has regretted that millions of peasants, agricultural laborers and women of Sindh had been severely affected due to floods triggered by recent torrential monsoon rains.
In a statement on Wednesday, HWA President Akram Khaskheli said that houses of flood-hit people had collapsed, livestock died, crops of cotton and sugarcane were destroyed and people were forced to leave their homes; whereas, children, women and the elderly were suffering from various communicable diseases, particularly dengue, and malaria spread due to stagnant rainwater.
According to the recent report released by PDMA Sindh, around 11 million people have been affected in Sindh while over 5 million acres of cultivated land have been destroyed, with 90% being cotton crops, which has affected millions of farmers who were now more indebted due to this crop failure.
This situation will lead to forced labor and the children of peasants who are studying will also suffer from child labor. It has been estimated that more than 10 million children will be out of school.
The HWA President stressed the need for taking strict measures to prevent forced labor by activating the vigilance committees formed in every district, under the Sindh Bonded Labour System Abolition Act 2015, and under the prevention of trafficking in Persons Act, 2018.
The Sindh Child Protection Authority and National Commission on the Rights of Child must play a role and ask the government to make a concrete policy for bringing out of school children to school, he added.
Khaskheli demanded of government to distribute the government lands among the farmers who lost their lands in recent flood and register them in social security schemes .