HYDERABAD, March 22 Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Mallah Tanzeem chairman Mohammad Arib Mallah has said that due to acute shortage of water in the Indus River which has virtually turned into a dirty nullah.

He termed the fishery policy of the government anti-fishermen.

He was speaking at a seminar held at Manjhi House in Hussainabad here on Sunday to mark the World Water Day. He said due to non-release of water downstream Kotri, sea water had swallowed up to 2.1 million acres of rich agricultural land and added that thousands of acres of forest had also been destroyed.

Mr Mallah said that 85 per cent species of fish had almost become extinct. Lack of rain was because of disappearance of forests, he added.

He demanded of the Sindh Chief Minister to appoint a fisheries board in which fishermen should also be given representation.

PPP leader Sher Mohammad Pirzada said that in order to conserve water, PPP government had started a process of lining the canals and watercourses.

Engineer Ashfaq Ahmed Pirzada said that not only there was an acute shortage of water but whatever water was available, was being polluted due to the disposal of industrial waste in the river and canals.

He stressed the need for setting up treatment plants in the industrial zones and added that a law should be legislated to monitor these plants. He said the disposal of poisonous water in Phulelli canal was spreading many a water-borne disease among the people. Ali Mohammad Mastoi, Ghulam Hussain Mallah, Abdul Latif Mallah and Khair Mohammad Soomro also spoke on the occasion.

FARMERS The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture at a meeting here on Sunday called upon the government to ensure adequate water supply to the growers for their crops.

The meeting which was presided over by the senior vice president of the Chamber, Mir Murad Ali Khan Talpur, further demanded that no dam, including Kalabagh dam should be constructed on Indus River and added that all such projects should be shelved.

It said that water should be released downstream Kotri to save the Indus delta and mangroves and demanded implementation of 1991 water accord in letter and spirit. It said that all the canals and watercourses should be lined to conserve water.

Those who attended the meeting included, Akhund Ghulam Mohammad Siddiqui, Mohammad Anwar Bachani, Dr Shahnawaz Shah, Mir Imdad Talpur and others.