HYDERABAD, Oct 7: The Sindh High Court, Hyderabad circuit bench, here on Tuesday directed the Kotri SITE managing director and the Environment Protection Agency director and the assistant director to appear in the court on Thursday in response to a petition.

The petition pertains to discharge of industrial effluent in the Kalri Baghar feeder that provides water to parts of Karachi and Kotri.

The Nazim of Kotri union council, Allah Bachayo Shoro, had sent a letter to the court which was converted into a petition.

He argued that due to the discharge of industrial waste water, chemicals and effluent, water in the KB feeder became poisonous but there were no arrangements for its treatment.

He said that thousands of residents were being supplied water which was resulting in diseases like diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and hepatitis. In response to an earlier notice by the SHC, a SITE engineer appeared in the court with the Sindh additional advocate-general.

He admitted the contents of the petition and said that 45.18 acres of land had been purchased for the establishment of a treatment plant.

He said that initially Rs1 million would be spent on the plant and the amount had been earmarked in the budget of the SITE, Kotri.