HYDERABAD, Aug 13: App-roximately 40 per cent diseases in Pakistan are caused due to consumption of contaminated water.

This was stated by speakers at a seminar jointly organised by the Green Rural Development Organisation and Actionaid Pakistan at the press club here on Saturday evening.

Professor Aijaz Qureshi, Zulfiqar Halepoto, Fayaz Gadro, Ali Ahmed Tunio and Ghulam Hussain Malookani spoke on the occasion.

They said that 61 per cent population of the country was deprived of clean drinking water which increased the cases of hepatitis, typhoid, stomach and skin diseases.

They said that according to the Constitution, it was the duty of local bodies to provide clean drinking water to people.

They said that due to inefficiency of the organisations, many people lost their lives every year.

They said that Sindh was the worst sufferer as far as water supply was concerned.

They claimed that according to a report, in 1947, Sindh province was 55 per cent richer to other provinces and in 1999 its prosperity reduced to 36 per cent and in 2004-05, it further declined to 16 per cent only.

The speakers said that due to poisonous water, a massive migration has taken place from the Manchhar lake area.