HYDERABAD, May 8: The Sindh Abadgar Board has expressed resentment over continuous release of poisonous water from other provinces into Sindh. At a working committee meeting held here on Saturday, the board said the entire province had been turned into a poisonous lake due to storage of fresh water upstream and release of saline water into Sindh.

Abdul Majeed Nizamani presided over the meeting.

The meeting demanded that the president and prime minister and the Sindh governor and chief minister should constitute a high-level medical board comprising reputed doctors of the country to hold an inquiry into spread of gastroenteritis, malaria, TB, diarrhoea and leishmaniasis in Sindh.

It demanded that the Northern Areas administration and governments of Punjab and the NWFP should be directed to stop release of municipal and factory run-offs into the Indus River.

It called upon the federal government to ensure continuous water flow in the River Indus all the year round by strictly implementing the 1991 Water Accord.

It also called for the rehabilitation and revamping Sindh’s irrigation system on war a footing to ensure water supply to tail-end areas of each and every waterway.

If necessary, the board suggested that services of the army engineers might be acquired.

It demanded that Sindh should be paid compensation due to huge losses it had suffered during the last five years on account of acute shortage of water.

It urged the irrigation department to improve regulation and management of water to eliminate theft of irrigation water and carry out desilting of waterways as approval of desilting of waterways had already been sanctioned.

It criticized the slow pace of work on lining of watercourses and urged the On-farm Water Management authorities to improve performance to enable the farmers to cultivate the Kharif crop on time.

It regretted that sugar mill owners had failed to make payment to farmers though the crushing season had ended four months back.

It demanded that Sindh chief minister and the agriculture minister should direct sugar mills to clear outstanding dues of cane growers without any further delay.

It regretted that the possession of 30 per cent of plots and shops earmarked for farmers in vegetable markets of Karachi and other cities had not yet been handed over to them though they had made full payments of plots and shops.