THATTA, Feb 14: Mr Alkexes Fossi, the head of a French-based deltaic affairs organization, who is conducting a study on the Indus delta, expressed grave concern here on Monday over periodic ruination of the delta.

Accompanied by PFF chairman Mohammad Ali Shah, he was talking to newsmen at the office of Thatta PFF.

Mr Fossi appealed to authorities concerned to release water downstream Kotri and help restore the delta’s ecology and life.

The organization, ‘Alternative’, is a partner of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum in a project ‘Spider’.

The project is about finding facts and proposing remedies to keep trade and livelihood alive in the Indus delta alongside Thatta border.

Mr Fossi, who is an expert on oceanography, expressed concern over the shrinkage of livelihood resources, increasing hyper-salinity, inundation of 2.2 million acres of fertile agricultural land under oceanic water within one and a half decades along Thatta and Badin district coastlines.