KARACHI: The practice of disposing of sewage from towns and villages in Larkana district into the Rice Canal was started by the local government bodies during Gen Musharraf’s era, said Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani on Thursday.

He was speaking during the Question Hour, which pertained to the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department, in the assembly’s Thursday session.

The speaker provided the additional information on a question asked by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional legislator Rafique Banbhan regarding the disposal of effluent into the Rice Canal. The speaker said that the local government nazims, during Pervez Musharraf’s government, were very powerful and nobody could stop them [from doing what they did], so they discharged their organisations’ effluent into the Rice Canal, contaminating the irrigation water, also used for drinking downstream.

Responding to a question by the PML-F legislator, PHE Minister Fayyaz Butt said that 15 localities of Larkana city also disposed of their effluent into the Rice Canal.

However, the effluent was passed through oxidation ponds after which it was safe to release into the canal.

The minister did not respond to a question asked by Muttahida Qaumi Movement legislator Hargundas Ahuja that a major Larkana hospital also disposed of its effluent into the Rice Canal, and where its treatment plant was set up.

The minister also did not respond to a question, repeatedly asked by the PML-F legislator, whether under the law any body/organisation could dispose of effluent into irrigation canals. He also did not respond to a question by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf legislator Samar Ali Khan about whether the oxidation ponds could treat chemical-infested effluent.

Responding to a question asked by MQM legislator Heer Ismail Soho about whether the public health engineering scheme in Kunb town in Kotdiji was being maintained properly, the minister said that the scheme had been handed over to the town committee and was operational. He said that various other such schemes had also been completed and handed over to the town/municipal committees/union councils concerned, but some of them were not operational as the organisations did not have sufficient funds.

Speaker Durrani, who had held the portfolio of local government during 2008-13, recalling such issues where the committees concerned said they did not have funds to operate and maintain such schemes, asked Mr Butt and Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro to take up the issue with the law department so that a solution could be found. And if required, amendments to the laws could be made so that funds could be allocated for maintenance of such a scheme.

Responding to a question by MQM legislator Kamran Akhtar about how many people had been recruited in the department during 2016-17, the minister said that only one man, Mohammad Akram, had been appointed watchman against the deceased quota on the orders of the chief minister. Answering another question by the legislator about whether there were plans to recruit other people as well, the minister said that recently an advertisement to fill various vacancies had been published in the media and the vacancies would be filled following due process transparently.

MQM legislators Rana Ansar, Sumeta Syed, PTI legislator Khurram Sherzaman and others also participated in Question Hour.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2017