THATTA, May 19: The Thatta Taluka Council on Wednesday demanded release of maximum water to the Keenjhar Lake to overcome the worsening water crisis in Mirpur Sakro and Thatta talukas.

A resolution to this effect was unanimously approved by the members of the council. Taluka Nazim Ada Mohammad alleged irregularities in the award of a sand and gravel contract for Thatta district for the fiscal 2003-4.

He said that the elected representatives would not remain silent over the loot and plunder of district's resources. He said that the Sindh mines and mineral development department had awarded the contract for Rs30.5 million to Majid Arain who had been required to pay a monthly instalment of Rs3.5 million for four consecutive months.

However, he said, the contractor did not deposit a single penny and the department cancelled his contract declaring him defaulter in October 2003. He said that the same contract was awarded to Yaqoob, employee of Majid Arain, and held Haji Usman Malkani, Sindh Minister for Mines and Mineral Development, equally responsible for irregularities in the department, causing huge financial losses to the district kitty.

He said that due to favouritism, obtaining quarry licenses or renewing them was impossible. The convener pointed out that some unidentified people were making recoveries from vehicles carrying sand and gravel in the name of service charges.

Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah complained that the EDO health office had used expired anti-mosquito spray in the district. Haji Mohammad Hassan stated that the jobs of 50 employees, working for the Taluka Municipal Administration for the last 20 years, had not been regularized.

Other members supported Mr Hassan and the session demanded regularization of the jobs. The session took notice of a growing trend of encroachment in the Taluka Municipal Administration's jurisdiction.

It approved various schemes including renovation of the Makli Gymkhana.The session observed that action would be taken against the market committee authorities if they did not stop illegal recovery of market committee fee.

20 HURT: Twenty passengers were injured, three of them critically, when a Thatta-bound passenger coach collided with a truck near the Gulistan farm on the National Highway on Wednesday.