Posts Tagged ‘Thatta’

Musharraf sees winds of change in Pakistan

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THATTA (PPI) – Former president and chief of All Pakistan Muslim League Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday that winds of change in the country have started blowing and urged the youths to come forward and play role for bringing stop of the politics of “liars and gangsters.” <br…

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23 die as bus collides with van in Thatta

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THATTA- At least 23 persons including two women were killed and 18 others injured some of them seriously in a head on collision between a passenger van and a bus near Gujjo close to the district town of Thatta on National Highway on Sunday evening.
According to eye witnesses, the…

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Road crash kills 20 in Thatta: police

“The van collided with the bus while overtaking another vehicle on national highway. 20 people have died and 13 wounded,” said a police official.

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20 killed in bus, van collision near Thatta

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At least 20 people were killed and more than a dozen wounded in tragic road accident at National Highway near Thatta, report said on Sunday. The incident took place near Gajjo area when a speedy passenger van, coming from Karachi, collided head-on with a Karachi-bound bus, killing more than 20…

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Zardari seeks early dewatering of affected areas

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KARACHI – President Zardari monitored relief activities in various rain-affected districts of Sindh, and interacted with elected representatives, relief committees and district officials of the areas through video-conferencing via satellite from Bilawal House here on Friday.
The districts which were monitored include Benazirabad, Sanghar, Badin, Tando Allahyar, Thatta, Matiari, Mirpurkhas…

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Rain havoc in Sindh a wake-up call: Zardari

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KARACHI- President Asif Ali Zardari has demanded for special attention to flood hit Badin and Thatta where people had suffered most due to the natural calamity and unfortunately the stagnant flood water jeopardized livestock and agriculture on a massive scale.
The President said that he was confident that the…

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Floods bring positive change in coastal area

THATTA, Aug 1: Last year’s flood brought miseries and devastation for the people belonging to seven coastal talukas of Thatta district but it brought about some positive environmental changes nevertheless. The flood water lowered hyper salinity graph, prepared land for paddy bumper crop in some areas, increased fishing activity and caused receding of sea waters [...]

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PPP will resist conspiracy to divide Sindh: Sassui

THATTA, July 25: Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palijo has said that Sindh that conspiracies to divide Sindh will never succeed. Talking to a group of students who called on her here on Monday, Ms Palijo said that the PPP government was sincere with people of Sindh who brought it to power and would never [...]

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One died, 4 injured as pickup overturns near Thatta

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A man died while four others got injured on Monday as a Suzuki pickup overturned near Chaliya area, located some five kilometers away from Thatta.
As per details, 18-year-old Altaf died on the spot while the injured persons were rushed to Civil Hospital Makli.

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Makli’s aura revisited

One of the largest necropolises in the world, Makli Hill is supposed to be the burial place of some 125,000 Sufi saints. It is located on the outskirts of Thatta, in Pakistan’s Sindh province. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981 under the name, Historical Monuments of Thatta. – Photos by Hussain [...]

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Malaria cases on sharp rise in Sindh after floods

A girl suffering from fever in flood-hit area in Pakistan. – AFP Photo

KARACHI: After recent floods the number of malaria cases rose sharply in Sindh, as accumulated flood water provided suitable environment to mosquitoes for breeding.

Despite many efforts of the government malaria is yet to be eliminated from the country and each year it claims hundreds of lives, say experts. Director Malaria Control Program Sindh, Dr. Naheed Jamali said that earler this cases of malaria had been on decline but the heavy floods of last year sent the number of malaria cases in Sindh soaring. — PPI

She said during the year 2009 more than 25,000 malaria cases had been reported in Sindh whereas in the year 2010 due to flood more than 57,000 cases of malaria were reported in Sindh province.

She said that there are more than 400 types of mosquitoes and it needs hectic efforts to eliminate them. She said under the malaria control program in Sindh including Karachi, 48 centers were working including the centers in teaching hospitals and health centers, where malaria patients are treated free of cost.

She pointed out that four districts of Sindh -Thatta, Khairpur, Dadu and Tharparker lead in malaria cases, while the number of reported cases is also on rise in districts of Kashmore, Ghotki and Larkana due to standing floodwater.

Dr Jamali said that last year 0.2mn mosquito nets were distributed that would remain in working condition for at least five years. To a question, she said that there was no shortage of funds, as due to the efforts of provincial health minister and secretary the program had been running successfully. She, however, admitted that sometimes disbursement of salary get delayed, consequently employees have to face trouble.

Assistant Professor of Microbiology at Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) Dr. Farhan Essa said that World Malaria Day is being celebrated all over the world including Pakistan on April 25 with the purpose to create awareness about this disease among the masses.

“The outbreak of malaria takes place every year after rainfall due to which thousands of people get affected while many people also die of this disease,” he added.

The symptoms of typhoid, malaria and dengue fever resemble one another, which is why complications take place during treatment if the disease not properly diagnosed. He said to avoid these complications the treatment must be given after a proper diagnosis. He said that there are four kinds of malaria which takes place when a female mosquito bites before laying eggs.

Dr. Farhan Essa asserted that people should ensure before transfusing the blood that is it clean form malaria; otherwise, the recipient patient can develop malaria.

Dr Shaista at National Institute of Child Health (NICH) said that every year thousands of children get affected by malaria whereas hundreds of children die of malaria. She said the death cases are not often reported in media. She said that daily dozens of children suffering from malaria are brought to National Institute of Child Health in OPD as well as emergency department, who after diagnosis are treated free of cost.

Malaria is a blood infectious diseases in which patients suffer from fever, anemia and possibly jaundice, added she.

Dr Shaista said that there is certain a kind of malaria, cerebral malaria, that affects children’s brain in which after fits child may go unconscious. Parents should immunize their children against diseases like polio, black cough, measles, hepatitis B, chicken pox, flu, meningitis, tuberculosis and other diseases so that they could be protected, she urged.

Pakistan Medical Association office-bearer and senior doctor Qaisar Sajjad said that malaria is a dangerous disease .People die of malaria, but still the government is not taking steps for complete eradication of mosquitoes.

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Six killed, 16 hurt in road mishap near Thatta

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At least six people were killed and 16 others received injuries in a road accident near Thatta here on Saturday morning, a private television channel reported.
The report said that the accident took place when a passenger van hit a roadside parked truck, killing six passengers and injuring sixteen others.<br…

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Low cane yield and sugar crisis

DURING the current season sugar production will be short by about 0.5 million tons against the domestic demand of around 4.2 million tons, says Mohammed Kasim Hasham, chairman Mehran Sugar Mills.

The industry estimates that around 3.6-3.8 million tons of sweetener will be produced this year. Much of the shortage is expected to be met by last year’s imported stocks still with the TCP of around 0.4 million tons.

The country remains under almost perpetual shortage of sugar while having sugarcane crushing capacity in excess of its domestic demand. The core issue is low cane productivity.

At present, industry sources say, there are 82 sugar mills with a crushing capacity of 534,720 tons per day (TCD) but on an average only 60 per cent of the capacity is being utilised. Out of the total, 45 sugar mills with 428,600 TCD are in Punjab, 30 in Sindh with 160,400 TCD and seven in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 45,720 TCD.

The only way to overcome sugar crisis is by developing new sugarcane varieties with higher per acre yield and more sucrose
content. Sugar shortage is the major cause of escalation in its price and hardship to consumers.

Even if we cannot achieve the high world cane yield per hectare as in Brazil and Cuba, it may be sufficient to follow India where per hectare yield is 70 per cent higher than in Pakistan.

But unfortunately the government and the industry are not tackling the issue while the sugar crisis deepens year after year.

The shortage also results in import of large quantity of sugar at the cost of precious foreign exchange.

For developing varieties with higher yield and better sucrose content, the country does not need any foreign assistance or technological know-how. What is required is a focused approach of the government and the stakeholders.

The country has a yield as low as 48.6 tons per hectare and even after bringing large tracks under cane crop, which presently stands at around 1,029,400 hectares. The production averages around 50-50.5 million tons which hardly meets 60 -70 per cent of the installed cane crushing capacity.

All factors including use of fertiliser, water and other inputs remaining the same, introduction of improved variety of cane would not only meet the rising domestic demand but create a sizeable exportable surplus, says sugar experts.

Sugar technologist Shifaat Zaidi said: “If the current factors stay the same including the cultivation area and inputs, the country could easily produce up to 6.4 million tons of sugar by improving per hectare yield of cane closer to that produced in
India.”

Over the last ten years, cane production ranged between 43-64 million tons per annum which indicates how unpredictable the output of farm produces can be because of factors like availability of water and climatic conditions.

In 1999-2000 the area under cane cultivation was 1,009,800 hectares which produced 42 million tons. However, in the subsequent years (2000-01 and 2001-02) the area under cane declined to 960,000 and 999,700 hectares, but production increased to 43.5 and 48 million tons, respectively.

Similarly, in 2005-06 the area under cane cultivation was much smaller at 906,980 hectares but cane production improved to 44 million tons. The highest cane production was recorded in 2007-08 at 64 million tons. But in the next season (2008-09) it receded to 50 million tons though the area under cultivation was 1,029,400 hectares.

The best way to ensure steady supply of sugar to consumers is by producing sufficient cane to utilise the existing country’s crushing capacity in full.

While there are three research institutes—in Faisalabad, Mardan and Thatta– but no worth mentioning research work has been carried out by them to develop high yielding cane crops. A few years back when Fauji Foundation was running two sugar mills in Sindh some research work was done by them on improvement of cane seed but that too came to an end after the Foundation sold its units.

Mr Hasham suggested that it would in the interest of the industry to help start research work for evolving new and better sugarcane seeds. There was a time when sugarcane fields were divided into zones and each mill was allocated separate zone(s).

This gave individual mill to work closely with growers on enhancing per hectare yield of cane, he said.

However, the government has to discontinue with the zoning system because some sugar mills knowing that grower had no choice but to sell the cane to his area unit, started taking advantage and made payments after long delays to farmers.

Mr Hasham was of the view that it was in the best interest of the sugar industry to pay better price promptly to induce farmers to produce more cane for the industry. He further said that crushing season should be short and not more than 90 days to ensure higher recovery because delays reduce sucrose contents and moisture from the cane. At present on an average crushing season is of five to six months.

Mr Zaidi said that sugarcane research institutes should be set up in ecological zones to get best results and most of cane cultivation should be done in costal areas where high moisture contents favour cane growth.

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Via DAWN.com

Cattle in Sindh hit by viral diseases

THE outbreak of viral diseases among livestock in Tharparkar, Umerkot, Sanghar and Naushero Feroze districts is assuming serious proportions because of lack of prompt remedial measures by the concerned provincial department.

According to cattle farmers, large number goats, sheep, cows, buffaloes and camels have been hit by viral diseases in central and lower districts of Sindh.

Livestock executive district officers confirmed that they have received reports of Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) disease in goats and sheep, Haloragis in camels and foot and mouth disease among other animals.

“Reports of rising death toll of animals have been received from various areas of Tharparkar, Umerkot, Achro Thar (White Thar) in Sanghar and Naushero Feroz districts. Besides, adjoining districts are also said to be at risk, if officials concerned do not quickly respond to the situation,” said Bachal, a cattle farmer in Samoo Rind village of Umerkot.

“In Nagarparkar in Tharparkar district, scores of animals have been killed during the last three months,” said Santosh Kumar,
a veterinary doctor in the town.

He told this scribe that some 10 weeks ago camels started contracting mouth disease in different parts of Tharparkar and Umerkot districts. “Once these animals fall prey to such diseases, they stop eating as their mouth bleeds and they die in three to four days,” Kumar explained.

Deputy Director Livestock Dr Rasheed Nizamani said that according to the livestock census 2006 there are around 6.925 million cattle heads in Sindh, nearly 60 per cent (4.155 million) of them in Tharparkar district alone.

The livestock of the province is growing at an average rate of 2.3 to 2.7 per cent annually following increased investment in the livestock sector, claims Dr Ghulam Sarwar Shaikh, director general Sindh Livestock.

Karimdad Rahimo of Haji Adam Ji Dhani village in Sanghar district recalls: “In January this year the livestock heads, particularly the young and newborn ones, started suffering from diarrhoea, sheep pox, pneumonia and other diseases and on an average five to eight cattle heads died every day.”

The village people said that their cattle was also affected by sore mouth suffered from bluetongue and diarrhea. These diseases caused their animals to bleed, suffer abdominal pain and resulted in their death within three to four days.

However, no vaccination by livestock department officials had been carried out in their area so far, some of them complained.

Situation in other parts of east-southern districts is not different either, where cattle death toll is rising.

Villagers of the Achhro Thar told this scribe over phone that about 133 goats, 1,121 sheep, 23 cows and 29 camels had died during the last three months in Sobharo, Janhaar, Thoorahoo, Maankor and adjoining villages.

“Most of the areas in Tharparkar and Umerkot, Sanghar and Naushero Feroz are without any or proper veterinary facilities.

Their absence results economic miseries of livestock breeders, who are compelled to transport their livestock to private veterinary facilities in Thatta, Badin and Hyderabad for treatment. In some cases, private vets are also called in from these areas to visit the disease-hit villages who charge the livestock owners heavily,” said Ali Akbar Rahimo, an Umerkot-based cattle farming expert.

“My 53 goats and kids suffered from diarrhoea, sore mouth and bluetongue diseases and a few of them died two weeks back. The infected goats bleed from mouth, remain lazy and do not eat or drink anything and after getting weaker die in one or two days,” said Ali Jalal of Samo Rind village in Umerkot district.

Mehar Ali Samoo of Kasboo area in Nagarparkar said he had lost 25 goats so far to the bluetongue viral disease. However, getting no help from taluka livestock officials, I had to take my cattle to private veterinary hospital in Badin, where I was charged Rs900 per visit. In addition, I had to spend about Rs4,300 for transporting the cattle and buying medicines.

The livestock officials in the districts said they lacked funds and required facilities to fight the diseases which prevented them from visiting the affected areas.

Umerkot EDO( agriculture and livestock) Ghulamullah Jarwar said he had dispatched some teams to the affected areas to study the problem, diagnose them and vaccinate the infected animals accordingly.

“The outbreak of the disease is a common phenomenon after rains in Thar region, which was controllable after vaccination,” he said.

He, however, hoped the problem would be brought under control soon by launching vaccination drive in the affected areas.

Livestock officials in Umerkot, Sangahr and Naushero Feroz districts attributed inadequate funds and lack of transport facilities as major constraints in delivery of their services to viral-hit cattle farmers.

“We have written to the provincial government to provide vet diagnosis kits, medicines, vaccinations and funds to strengthen the laboratories in different districts, particularly in Tharparkar, Umerkot and Badin districts to overcome the livestock diseases and save them from death, said Dr. Rashid Nizamani.

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Folk artiste begs on Thatta streets

THATTA: The frail memory of music lovers had forgotten a voice once they cherished to the depth of their souls.
A sought-after singer now sings in same high-pitched voice but with a begging bowl. Though, her voice had not lost its …

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Tar village: a beacon of light with 80pc literacy

THATTA: Amid poor nationwide rate of literacy and declining standard of education in the province, Tar Khuwaja, a small village of 500 souls, 63 kilometres from here, has sprung up like an oasis with more than 80 per cent literacy …

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Turkish PM tours parts of Pakistan devastated by floods

THATTA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week toured parts of Pakistan devastated by floods, using the visit to attack Israel and polish his image as a champion of Muslim solidarity. “My brothers, we share the same faith,” Erdogan …

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