DADU, Sept 15: The director planning, monitoring and evaluation, Sindh, Dr Sikandar Panhwar has said that 2,218 samples of ground water taken from nine districts of Sindh are being tested for arsenic quantity.
He was speaking at a seminar on Wednesday organized by the local government department for creating awareness among people in areas where ground water was found mixed with arsenic.
He said with the cooperation of nazims, the government was trying to solve the problem forever. He asked the people to follow prescriptions of doctors and use clean water. DCO Allam Din Bullo said population of the district was worst affected due to mixing of arsenic with ground water.
He said with the cooperation of Unicef, the government was finding out way to resolve this issue. He said the provincial, district governments, taluka UC administrations, and NGOs were working on this issue.
District Naib Nazim Zahid Jatoi said Pakistan was an agricultural country and depends on water hence proper attention be paid to water problem. He said by taking preventive measures pollution in water could be eradicated and lives of the people could be saved.
MPA Dr Manzoor Leghari said arsenic in ground water was at the dangerous level in the district if awareness was not created in far-flung areas it would prove drastic. EDO health Dr Moula Bux Jamali asked doctors of government hospitals to give briefing about arsenic and use of boiled water.
NAWABSHAH: District Nazim Faryal Talpur has said her government is making efforts to supply clean drinking water to people of the district. She was speaking at a seminar on "arsenic contamination in ground water and mitigation measures", organized by the local government department in collaboration with Unicef and the Nawabshah district government here on Tuesday.
The nazim said the Sindh local government department with assistance of Unicef had launched an arsenic mitigation programme in Dadu, Khairpur, Nawabshah and Tharparkar districts. She said Unicef was providing technical and financial support to the Sindh government.
She said tests by the Pakistan Council of Research on Water Resources had shown arsenic contamination in water samples collected from different places in the country. She stressed the need for coordination among quarters concerned to ensure success of the arsenic mitigation programme.