DADU, June 21: The Johi union council nazim has said that about 4,000 fishermen have been infected with gastroenteritis and hepatitis-B due to consumption of highly polluted water of the Manchhar Lake.

The Nazim, Mohammad Usman Jamali, was speaking at a meeting of nazims, naib nazims, councillors, social workers and government officials at the DCO office here on Sunday. He lamented that no effort had been made to provide safe water to the fishermen.

Drigh Bala UC Nazim Sikandar Ali Leghari told the meeting that over 45 species of fish had become extinct and 22 species of birds had migrated due to pollution in the lake.

He said that the federal, Sindh and district governments and international donor agencies should take notice of the issue and take measures to protect lives of the fishermen and the species of fishes and birds.

The president of Kachho Cultural and Development Organization, Pir Bux Babbur, said that presently about 20,000 fishermen lived on 2,000 boats floating on the lake. He said that a majority of them were suffering from different diseases but they had not been provided medical facilities.

A social worker of the area, Mohammad Bux Panhwar, said that the discharge of effluent from the Main Nara Valley drain had polluted the lake water and subsequently spread disease among the fishermen.

DCO Alamuddin Bullo said that the district government had informed the Sindh government about the situation prevailing at the Manchhar Lake. He said that Rs7 million would be allocated for the welfare of the fishermen in the next fiscal year.

He claimed that the district administration provided safe water to the villages around the lake through two tanks and health centres existed in Jhangara, Bajara, Shah Hassan, Bubak and Band Manchhar. He said that the discharge of the MNV drain water into the Manchhar Lake would stop after completion of the Right Bank Outfall Drain, work on which was in progress.