The prime minister said that the picture of this place had changed in a very short span of time due to the efforts of Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, provincial government and city administration.

He said the government was making tireless efforts for the development and prosperity of the country with honesty and sincerity.

About the epidemic of gastroenteritis in Landhi, he said that the inquiry was underway in this regard. He said steps were being taken to ensure provision of clean water everywhere in the country and filtration plants were being installed to solve this problem. People were also advised through awareness campaigns to use boiled water, he added.

Sindh Local Government Adviser Wasim Akhtar, DCO Fazalur Rehman and other senior officials accompanied the prime minister.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz presented an award to Dr A.A. Qureishi, a leading conservationist and environmentalist serving the nation for more than five decades, at the 20th International Ozone Day programme on Friday night.

Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, Chief Minister Arbab Rahim, along with provincial ministers and advisers also attended the programme held at the Governor’s House.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Farrukh Chishtie, a PhD from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, said that experts had warned against the harmful effects of the degrading ozone layer terming it a threat due to which global warming is causing disasters around the world, the recent ones being Hurricane Katrina and tsunami.

Earlier, Shahida Kausar Farooq of Subh-i-Nau, an NGO working in the fields of environment and public health, said that environment took precedence over development citing the examples of catastrophic losses in the recent Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami.

She said that economists had warned against these disasters four years back. Coastal defence in the form of mangroves should not be cut down in favour of shrimp farming and coastal development.—APP