LARKANA, July 5: District health authorities have advised the district government to ban dumping of industrial and domestic waste of Larkana city in the Rice canal and Dadu canal.

It was learnt on Monday that the executive district officer health, Dr Wahab Wadho, in a letter to the district coordination officer on June 21 had pointed out that untreated water, containing industrial and domestic waste, was being released in the two canals.

He said that the administration was also unaware about the safety of ground water being polluted by the surface waste water. "The ground water is generally recharged from the surface water and the Larkana city is surrounded by the two canals, carrying filthy water" he said.

The Rice canal during its closure days is filled with dirty water where herds of cattle drink and lay down dung. Mr Wadho said that the filthy water accumulated in the city area and canals might be sucked down and mixed up with the subsoil water, making it unsafe for drinking purpose forever.

The waste from motor workshops and factories in the city had no other source than municipal gutters that eventually fall down in the Rice canal, which passes through the city and Dadu canal, situated on the eastern edge of the city.

He said that it was a high time to take notice of this situation not only in the city but also in Shahdadkot and Warah talukas. He suggested that the district government should instruct the municipal authorities to restrain from flushing out the untreated sewerage water in the two canals which also irrigate thousands of acres of land in Larkana and Dadu districts.

Talking to this correspondent, Dr Murtaza Pathan, the head of the department of pathology, Chandka Medical College said that without proper equipment they could not undertake laboratory tests of the underground water.

PROTEST: Growers of the Behram town and its nearby areas held a protest demonstration against water shortage. Ghulam Ali Magsi led the protestors who blocked the Kambar- Shahdadkot road for half an hour.