HYDERABAD, Aug 25: Water and Sanitation Agency managing director Shaukat Hayat Bhutto has called upon irrigation authorities to post pon the expected release of water from the Manchar Lake into the River Indus.

The Wasa official told this correspondent that he had written a letter to the secretary for irrigation and chief engineers of Sukkur and Kotri barrages on Wednesday, pointing out that the water supply system in Hyderabad had not improved yet.

He said he sent the letter to the authorities after going through press reports that irrigation authorities had decided to again release water of the lake into the Indus as water level in the lake had increased. He said he had sent copies of the letter to higher government functionaries concerned, including the Sindh chief minister.

Mr Bhutto informed the authorities that work on improvement of the water supply system from a fund of Rs120 million, released by the Sindh government, was under way.

He said if the lake water was released into the Indus, Wasa would prefer to stop water supply to residents, instead of providing contaminated water which could lead to deaths of more people.

The press reports had said authorities had decided at a meeting in Karachi to carry out maintenance of regulators of the lake as water level was rising and if it was not done, lake's gates and regulators, which needed oiling and greasing, would be destroyed.

When Sukkur Barrage chief engineer Syed Noor Mohammad Shah was contacted, he said he had not attended the meeting. He, however, said he had talked to the secretary for irrigation, Ashfaq Memon, who told him that any decision regarding release of water into the Indus would be taken by DCOs of Dadu and Hyderabad. He expressed unawareness of any such decision.

In mid-May the Hyderabad city was hit by an unprecedented water crisis after water from the lake was released into the Indus river. Consumption of the polluted water had led to deaths of 42 people, mostly children. A large number of people, suffering from water-borne disease, had been hospitalized.

A district government source told this correspondent by telephone that the secretary for irrigation had constituted a committee, comprising the DCO of Dadu, executive engineer of the Manchar Lake and a representative of the Environmental Protection Agency, to decide release of water from the lake into the Indus.

The source said the committee members were required to check quality of the lake water before it was released into the Indus and whether sufficient water was available in the river which could neutralize the effect of polluted water of Manchar.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the committee, appointed by Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim to investigate the matter, was again adjourned for non-availability of the irrigation secretary on Tuesday.

The committee, which has held only one formal meeting, is yet to record statements of the former director-general, Hyderabad Development Authority, Ali Ahmad Lund, former managing-director, Wasa, Kafeel Ahmad, former EDO, health, Dr Agha Tariq, chief engineer, Sukkur Barrage, Ghulam Nabi Mughal, and the former secretary for irrigation, Bashir Ahmad Dahar. The committee is collecting data regarding deaths caused by consumption of contaminated water.