BADIN, Dec 7: District Nazim Kamal Khan Chang has apprised a World Bank delegation of devastations of infrastructure in the district caused by the Left Bank Out fall Drain.

The delegation, led by Mr Tikolo, on Monday visited coastal villages and inspected embankments of the Left Bank Out fall Drain and its component drains, Kadhan-Patoji Out fall Drain and Dhoro Puran Out fall Drain. It also visited lands destroyed by floods and breaches in the LBOD.

The nazim said the LBOD had proved to be counter-productive and it posed a great danger to people of Badin. He said due to the wrong plan of the project, seawater had submerged agricultural lands in Badin, Golarchi and Shaheed Fazil Rahu talukas, increasing salinity in the area.

The nazim said thousands of people had migrated from the coastal area due to poverty and non-availability of sources of livelihood and sweet drinking water. He said the villagers who had shifted to other areas were comparatively well off now.

Meanwhile, speaking at a gathering of agriculturists, nazims and representatives of NGOs at the Darbar Hall here on Monday, Mr Tikolo said the World Bank would launch several projects to improve socio-economic conditions in coastal areas of the district and improve literacy rate in rural areas.

Other speakers, including Dr Akash Ansari and Zameer Ujjan, criticized the World Bank and other donor agencies for funding the LBOD project. They said cases should be filed against the agencies as breaches in the drain had claimed many lives and destroyed crops and properties. They demanded that the World Bank should pay compensation to people for the losses they had suffered.