KARACHI, Feb 17: The environmental disaster faced by the Indus River and its delta may be attributed to improper water distribution system and non-release of water to downstream Kotri.
This situation is having disastrous consequences for agriculture, forests, livestock, wildlife, fisheries and the lives of people. “Besides, the Left Bank outfall Drainage has also contributed significantly to damaging the Indus Delta as it hampered natural flow of floodwater which consequently resulted in the drying up of agriculture land, said speakers from a cross-section of society, who included politicians, environmental experts, scholars, labour leaders, medical professionals and journalists, at the launching ceremony of a book, “Indus Valley - Environmental & Delta Crisis,” by Dr Karim Khwaja, the president of the People’s Doctors Forum Sindh, here on Monday.
PPP leader Taj Haider termed the drying up of the Indus river a catastrophe as the sea had made considerable intrusion into the river by disintegrating all deltas formed by it.
“Coastal areas of Thatta and Badin were ravaged by the cyclone which struck these areas about four years ago and made inroads into the River Indus up to 60 km and all fertile agricultural land with vast yields fell prey to sea waves,” he said.
He said the construction of Tarbela Dam had also posed a serious problem to the Indus as it was apparently built with the objective of storing floodwater. However, priorities of the government changed later.
He criticized the “the arbitrary and biased attitude of the Indus River System Authority,” because it violated the 1991 Water Accord agreed upon by smaller provinces, and claimed that all commitments in this regard were disregarded which weakened the federation.
“The Thal Canal project was initiated during the previous regime to benefit their favourites who bought costly lands in Cholistan area at throwaway prices,” he said.
“De-silting of Tarbela Dam has not been carried out for the past seven years with the purpose of destroying it so as to create rationale for the construction of the controversial Kala Bagh dam.
“Tarbela Dam falls in the jurisdiction of the NWFP, and in view of this fact the province has a right to demand its share in the hydel power project which it has been denied since long,” he said.
He suggested 10 million acres of water be released into downstream Kotri to improve conditions in the Indus River. Otherwise, he apprehended, the situation would only deteriorate.
Tahir Qureshi of the IUCN, in his presentation, maintained that in the past 10 years not a single drop of water had gone into the Indus having a capacity for 2,500 tons of fish.
He apprehended that the ecological catastrophe caused by depletion of the Indus due to its diversion was imminent and it was being feared that in the next 15 years the Arabian Sea would struck the Kotri Barrage.
Jam Saqi said in the recent past 600,000 hectares of mangroves existed along the River Indus, but with depletion of water, it had come down to 75,000 hectares which showed the gravity of the situation in terms of production of fish, crabs and other things which would have a direct bearing on the exports of the country.
He informed the audience that as a result of falling of water level in the Indus, underground water in Sujawal and Thatta areas had become unfit for human consumption.
Dr Karim Khawaja, explaining the health condition he observed in downstream Kotri, said in April last year it was reported in newspapers that people living in Lal Mahmoodani village near Tando Mohammed Khan were tearing their clothes and behaving in an abnormal manner.
“When a team of specialists doctors was sent to the village they noticed that this abnormal behaviour persisted for 30 minutes to 12 days and symptoms of the disease were dry mouth, temporary blindness, running here and there, falling down and unconsciousness, some of the female patients falling in fire, having intense fear and a feeling of tremor as if an earthquake has begun,” he said.
“Their condition was given the name, “Transient Hysteric Phobia” which was caused by three to four factors which included insecurity and fears of present and future, helplessness and hopelessness, malnutrition and the 1999 cyclone.
Prominent among those present at the ceremony were Nawab Yousuf Talpur, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Raza Rabbani, Rashid Husain Rabbani, Ibrahim Joyo, Mahmood Sham and Dr Sher Shah Syed. — PPI
