HYDERABAD, Aug 19: A four-member committee, appointed by the Sindh chief minister to probe the water contamination crisis that hit Hyderabad in May, held its first meeting at the office of the chief engineer, highways, here on Wednesday.

It would record statements of suspended Wasa and irrigation department officials next week. The meeting was presided over by the secretary for irrigation, Ashfaq Memon, and attended by committee members Mirpurkhas DCO Siddiq Memon and Hyderabad District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman. The third member, agriculture secretary Sabhago Khan Jatoi, did not attend the meeting.

The meeting gathered data of people who had died after consuming contaminated water of the River Indus. It, however, called for ascertaining the details of the deceased persons to know whether they had died due to consumption of polluted water or other reasons.

It called HDA director-general Tahir Ahmad and Water and Sanitation Agency managing-director Shaukat Hayat Bhutto and ascertained details of the water distribution system in Hyderabad.

It also went through various reports of laboratories regarding the quality of water supplied to people. Former irrigation secretary Bashir Dahar, former HDA director- general Ali Ahmad Lund, former Wasa managing-director Kafeel Ahmad, former health EDO Dr Agha Tariq and former Sukkur Barrage chief engineer irrigation Ghulam Nabi Mughal would record their statements.

Except for Mr Dahar, the officials are also facing criminal proceedings before the sixth additional district judge of Hyderabad following registration of a case at the Market police station on June 4.

SLA: The Sindhi Language Authority here on Thursday announced that it had published the first volume of the history of Sindhi literature compiled by Dr Jabbar Junejo, reports our Bureau.