KARACHI, Aug 27: Speakers at seminar on Sunday said that drug addiction and tobacco chewing, particularly among the women and children, was spreading at a fast pace in the coastal areas of Sindh.

They were speaking at a seminar organised jointly by the People’s Doctors Forum and Bin Qasim Town at Rehri Goth. A large number of residents of nearby coastal villages of Ibrahim Haidery, Chashma Goth, Lath Basti participated. Bin Qasim Town Nazim Umer Jat, Tahir Qureshi of the IUCN, Dr Karim Khwaja of the PDF, Javed Qazi, Shafi Patoli, Master Umer and others also spoke.

They said that owing to the unchecked entry of untreated sewage and raw industrial effluents to the sea, marine life was being affected. They said that these effluents while passing through various drains also seeped into the ground contaminating the subsoil aquifer affecting the quality of well water.

They said that various diseases like hepatitis A, B and C, skin and chest infections etc were increasing in the coastal communities owing to the environmental pollution as well as contaminated water.

They demanded that treatment plants be installed immediately so that the effluents and sewage was treated before being released to the sea and the coastal areas were saved from the hazardous effects of the pollution.