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HYDERABAD, May 18: Activists of the Peace and Development Forum, including women, held a protest demonstration outside the press club here on Tuesday against supply of contaminated water to people.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mazhar Memon, Dost Mohammad Channa, Jan Mohammad Junejo and others said that due to negligence of the irrigation department, people were forced to drink polluted water.
The protesters raised slogans against the secretary for irrigation and demanded his removal. Meanwhile, Kotri Barrage authorities told Dawn that more fresh water might be released from the Sukkur Barrage to ease the situation.
Court moved: A lawyer here on Tuesday filed an application in the court of the district and sessions judge and director of Human Rights Board, seeking an action against respondents for supply of contaminated water to the residents of the city.
The lawyer, Ayaz Latif Palijo, has cited the director of the Water and Sanitation Agency, director-general of Hyderabad Development Authority, chief engineer of Kotri Barrage, nazims of Hyderabad district and its three urban talukas, others and the state as respondents.
He said that according to press reports, contaminated water of the Right Bank Outfall Drain and Manchhar Lake was being disposed of in Indus River. On the other hand, he added, fresh water was not being released downstream Kotri.
As a result, he pointed out, the city residents were being supplied poisonous water because of which a number of people, particularly children, were suffering from serious stomach diseases.
Saying that lives of residents were at stake and their fundamental right was being violated, Mr Palijo requested the court to take action against the respondents.
