HYDERABAD, June 7: The environmental, irrigation and water experts have said that the Main Nara Valley drain's effluent is responsible for destroying the Manchhar Lake.

They demanded that effluent should be disposed of somewhere else to save the biggest fresh water lake of Asia and livelihood of tens of thousands of fishermen. They were speaking at a seminar jointly organized by the Environmental Protection Agency and Hyderabad Gymkhana in Jamshoro on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, irrigation expert Qazi Abdul Majeed said that due to non-release of water downstream Kotri Barrage, Indus Delta had been destroyed and a huge coastal area had been submerged under seawater.

He said that even water for drinking purpose was not available in the coastal areas of Badin and Thatta districts. Mr Majid proposed that a high-powered committee should be appointed to ensure supply of clean drinking water to the people by the departments concerned.

Associate Professor, Community Medicine department, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro, Dr Hussain Bux Kolachi, said that 900 people had recently fallen ill due to use of contaminated water.

He said that due to the consumption of contaminated water, people suffered from 40 diseases including gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, cholera, and hepatitis. Dr Ahsan Irfan Siddiqui, who has recently analysed Manchhar Lake water, said that due to the release of the MNV drain's effluent in the Manchhar Lake, it had been destroyed.

He said that he had found an alarming increase of magnesium, arsenic and mercury in the lake water which had rendered the water extremely dangerous for human consumption.

Mr Kolachi warned that due to mercury, human mind could be seriously affected. He said the normal practice was that before releasing Manchhar Lake water into Indus through Aral Wah, fresh water was released from Sukkur Barrage to neutralise hazardous effects of the lake water.

He, however, said that it had not been done this year which was resulting in the loss of lives. Others who spoke on the occasion included Habibur Rehman Memon, Mohammad Ibrahim Qureshi, Mohammad Iqbal and Mashhood Ahmed Siddiqui.

Meanwhile, the All Pakistan Technical Draughtsmen Federation has demanded that the acting superintending engineer, Rohri Canal, Manzoor Magsi, should also be included in the inquiry about the supply of poisonous water to the people.

In a statement issued here on Monday, federation chairman Matloob Ahmed Chishti urged the Sindh government to order an inquiry as to how a junior executive engineer, Mr Magsi, had been given the important charge of the superintending engineer. He alleged that despite a ban on transfers, the superintending engineer was issuing transfer orders for which he was not authorized.