HYDERABAD, Dec 13: Speakers at a ‘peoples’ assembly’ held at village Wadda Chhachhar, taluka Manjhand, termed the construction of the RBOD a sinister conspiracy to destroy Dadu, Jamshoro and Thatta districts on Wednesday.

The assembly was held under the aegis of Anti-RBOD Action Committee, Sakhi Welfare Association and Actionaid Pakistan.

They said that if the construction of the RBOD was not stopped, the Sindhi people will be forced to migrate from the rich agricultural lands and the cultural heritage of Sindh will be destroyed.

They demanded that all the federating units of the country should dispose of their poisonous water in their own provinces which could also be profitably used by setting up of treatment plants.

The speakers feared that due to the release of poisonous water of Balochistan and the Punjab into Sindh, the rich agricultural lands, forests and small towns and villages of Dadu, Jamshoro and Thatta will be completely wiped out.

Speaking on the occasion, an irrigation expert, Nazeer Memon, said that within the past 18 years, the developed countries had demolished 15,000 big dams out of 45,000. He claimed that these dams had been demolished keeping in view the devastative effects on environment, water logging and salinity as well as various diseases which were the result of these dams.

In this context, he gave the examples of American, Japan, Australia, the Philippines and other countries.

Mr Memon claimed the Punjab had always planning to destroy the agriculture Sindh and to displace its people and added that National Drainage Programme was a part of this conspiracy.

He said 5.6 million acres of Sindh’s lands had been destroyed by the Sim nullahs and over a million acres had been destroyed due to sea water intrusion.

It had been argued that the watercourses were being lined because the katcha watercourses were causing water logging and that the water was also being wasted.

He said the RBOD will destroy the historic town of Aamri and other sites.

He called upon the Sindhi people to raise their voice against the RBOD.

The chairman Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, Syed Mohammad Ali Shah said the RBOD had already poisoned the historical Manchhar Lake which is the biggest lake in Asia and if its construction was not stopped, it will also destroy the three district of Sindh—Dadu, Jamshoro and Thatta.

According to the plan, the poisonous water of RBOD will be disposed of into the sea near Gharo. This will destroy the delta, the mangroves and other historical relics, he added.

He reminded the authorities that the mangroves forests were a bulwark against cyclones and if anything happened to it the marine life will also destroyed. Indus Development Organisation President Zain Daudpoto said NGOs had already identified these burning issues which were destroying environment and social values and it was now up to the politicians to foil all the harmful policies.