BADIN, Oct 7: Speakers at a seminar have held Wapda responsible for the devastation of Badin district during recent rains.

The seminar on the Left Bank Outfall Drainage (LBOD) was organized by the Young Sheedi Welfare Organization with the collaboration of Oxam GB here on Sunday.

Speakers feared that the district would be vanished from the map, if the LBOD existed in its present design.

Dr Ali Nawaz Baloch said the project was first considered to provide drainage to irrigated area of 4.8 million acres in the year 1969.

He said the drain had been completely damaged and the sea was advancing. “So far one million acre land has been encroached by the sea”, he claimed.

Natho Lund said there were five natural rivers which flowed from north to south and after the construction of LBOD and its main components had disappeared.

He said after the construction of drainage system 79 kinds of birds, 72 kinds of insects and 56 kinds of trees had disappeared.

Allah Bachayo Jamali said the LBOD was a death warrant to each person of the district. He said it had not only ruined the villages, caused loss of lives but also entire ecology had been disturbed, compelling people to shift to other places. He feared the degradation of entire district.

The speakers demanded restoration of the natural agricultural system to save the district from ruination.

Professor Abdullah Mallah, Bahadur Lund, Faiz Baloch, Ashok Tawani, a representative of Oxfam GB, woman councellor Fareda Qambrani and others also spoke on the occasion.