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HYDERABAD, Nov 4: A bench of the Sindh High Court, Hyderabad, on Thursday gave a last chance to the chief minister's inquiry committee to finalize its findings in the water contamination case and submit its report by Dec 2.
The bench, comprising Justice Syed Zawar Hussain Jafri and Justice Azizullah Memon, gave the order during the hearing of two identical petitions and suo motu proceedings in the matter initiated by the court in June.
Sindh Additional Advocate-General Masood A. Noorani submitted a letter on behalf of the Sindh irrigation secretary, requesting for grant of 21 days to complete the inquiry.
Ishaq Qureshi, who had filed one of the petitions, said nothing would come out of such an inquiry and prayed the court to order a judicial inquiry in the matter.
He said consumption of contaminated water had claimed more lives than the number shown in official figures.
FUNDS NOT RELEASED: Funds of the governor's package of Rs241 million have not been released despite a statement by a provincial adviser on Oct 14 that the funds will be release in a week.
During his visit to the city, the adviser to the Sindh chief minister on local bodies, Waseem Akhtar, had said the lapsed funds of Rs241 million would be released to the Hyderabad Development Authority.
A Rs500 million package was announced by then Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro in 2001. Some of the amount was released by the Sindh government but the rest lapsed.
Meanwhile, project director for Rs120 million water supply schemes has not been appointed by the Sindh government.
HDA director-general Tahir Ahmad has recommended the name of Water and Sanitation Agency managing-director Shaukat Hayat Bhutto for the post of the project director but the DCO is reported to have disagreed with it.
