HYDERABAD, July 13: Assistant Managing Director, Wasa for sewerage, Shamim Khan, has expressed fear that due to inadequate drainage system, Hyderabad may be inundated during the monsoon , leading to the spread of epidemics and a catastrophic situation.
In a communication on rain emergency plan addressed to the executive engineers, sewerage maintenance divisions, Wasa, Mr Khan said that sewerage system in the city had collapsed.
He reminded the executive engineers that during the inspection of sewerage disposal network of the city, it was noticed that the drains were full of silt, had collapsed and choked due to the rise in water table and accumulation of solid waste.
Mr Khan said that Wasa practised breakdown maintenance instead of preventive maintenance. As a result rain emergency plan had not even been taken into consideration although monsoon season had started.
He pointed out that the Hyderabad Sewerage Project, which was only 50 per cent completed in 17 years against the stipulated period of five years, might take another 17 years for completion if the work went on at snail's pace. The Wasa official urged the engineers to speed up the work.
STUDENTS: A group of the Mehran University students of the 93-batch who have been on hunger strike outside the press club for the last 68 days against withholding of their degrees have accused the administration of victimizing them.
The hunger strikers, Imran Tunio, Yasser (Palestinian), Zakariya (Palestinian), Faisal Shahani and others alleged that the two Palestinian students were issued show cause notices at the behest of university administration. They accused the controller of examinations of demanding money for issuing degrees.
It might be pointed out that the university administration had clarified on more than one occasion that 63 students of the 93-batch had failed in five to nine subjects and they could not be awarded degrees as per the rules of the university and Pakistan Engineering Council.
The university authorities said that unsuccessful students had been given all opportunities of make-up but they could not pass their examinations.
EXAM RESULT: The controller of examinations, Liaquat Medical University and Health Sciences, Jamshoro has announced the result of postgraduate diploma in family medicine, diploma in child health examination 2004 held in the month of April 2004.
The controller also announced the result of diploma in gynaecology and obstetrics examination 2004 of the LUMHS and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi held in the month of April 2004.
JOURNALIST: A journalist, Nazeer Laghari, who has been on hunger strike for one week in protest against the disconnection of power supply to his residence, distributed documentary evidence among newsmen on Monday to prove that he was a bonafide consumer.
