SUKKUR, May 10: A division bench of the Sindh High Court, Sukkur, has issued notices to secretaries of the Sindh planning and development department and the federal government and the advocate-general of Sindh to appear in the court on May 12 to apprise the court about release of funds for the sewerage system of Sukkur.

The bench, comprising Justice Zawar Hussain Jaffery and Justice Ameer Muslim Hani, issued the notices on Wednesday after hearing the counsel for petitioner Lala Asad Pathan, Advocate Ghulam Shabbir Shar against supply of contaminated water in Sukkur.

Federal deputy finance secretary, provincial additional finance secretary, advocate-general of Sindh and District Nazim Syed Nasir Hussain Shah were present in the court.

The federal deputy finance secretary expressed ignorance about letters written to him by the district nazim of Sukkur and said that “our department was least concerned with the matter, rather the planning and development division was responsible and could release funds for the purpose”.

The bench observed that the district nazim was not properly apprising the court about the supply of contaminated water to residents of Sukkur and release of sewage into the Indus River.

The district nazim submitted before the court that he had met the chief secretary and briefed him on the issue of contaminated water. He said he had also written to the federal finance ministry for release of funds and was awaiting a response from it.

On this, the court issued notices to the secretaries for the Sindh planning and development department, federal government and the advocate-general of Sindh to appear in the court on May 12.

POLLING STATIONS: The government has set up 454 polling stations and deployed 4000 policemen to avert any possible unpleasant situation during the thrice-postponed elections for five new union councils in district Ghotki on May 14.