HYDERABAD, Oct 18: The director, World Wide Fund for Nature, Pakistan, Hamad Naqi Khan, has said that Hepatitis-B was spreading rapidly due to consumption of contaminated water, and added that Pakistan was gripped by complications which were the result of environmental pollution.

He was speaking at a one-day training workshop on “Journalists for Sustainable Development: Tools and Techniques,” at a local hotel here on Friday.

He said that human life was badly affected after flora and fauna due to environmental pollution.

He said that the people could be protected against pollution and its related diseases if universally acknowledged principles of passing one’s life were to be adopted.

He said that the situation in Pakistan was deteriorating day by day because there had been no progress towards elimination of environmental pollution.

Calling for taking decisions to save nature by adopting effective measures, he said that the WWF had paid due attention to the Indus delta.

WWF’s Conservation Manager for Sindh Naseer Memon said that no legislation had been adopted to utilize underground water.

He said that according to an estimate there were 600,000 tubewells in the country, whereas in Sindh 55 per cent of water in 41,000 wells was not fit for human consumption.

Opposing the unnecessary use of pesticides, he said that so far the growers had not been warned about the harmful effects of pesticides on their crops.

He said that traffic pollution was largely contributing to mental stresses/diseases.

RECOUNTING OF VOTES: The recounting of votes on PS-45 (Hyderabad-III), won by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, continued till 7:30pm on Friday.

Around 89 objections were recorded by Abdul Rehman Rajput and Farooque Qureshi, the returned and defeated candidates respectively. The objections included those of invalid polled and rejected votes.

Recounting of votes was completed in another 10 polling stations.

Votes were being recounted on the election petition of Farooque Qureshi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.