KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday took an exception to contamination of water in the Manchar Lake and observed that departments of the Sindh province wanted people to keep dying as no progress had been made to remove contamination from the lake.
The court observed that the irrigation department and concerned officials would be sent to prison if contamination of water was not ended from the lake.
Hearing a suo moto case with regard to contamination of water in the Manchar Lake due to effluent from the Right Bank Outfall Drain, the SC’s two-member bench, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, inquired the secretary irrigation as what efforts were made to reduce the contamination in the Manchar Lake.
Secretary Irrigation Jamal Mustafa submitted that work had been carried out to reduce the contamination level of Manchar Lake and results will be achieved soon. The court observed that the case was pending since the last eight years but no substantial progress had been seen except paperwork.
The court observed that the provincial government was compelling people to consume contaminated water though billions of rupees had been spent on projects aimed to reduce the contamination in the lake. The court observed that if it called an explanation about the expenditure of billion rupees project, it would be revealed that not a single penny had been utilized on it. The court observed that people were dying due to contamination of water in the Manchar Lake but no progress had been made so far.
The court observed that marine life was also being destroyed due to contamination and inquired about the utilization of funds for reducing the contamination of water in the lake. The court observed that the government has to submit details of expenditure for the last 20 years on the Manchar Lake, adding that 2010 flood waters would have been utilised for 10 years had it been stored in a proper manner.
The court observed Turkey had managed to clean its sea from pollution but no sincere efforts were seen to remove the marine pollution by officials. The court took notice over the state of affairs in the province and inquired government officials as to whether a single tree had been planted in the province. The court inquired the irrigation department officials as where would the rain water be stored in the monsoon season as no arrangements had been made yet.
The court directed secretary irrigation to submit details with regard to utilization of funds for reducing the contamination in the Manchar Lake and when the contamination issue would be overcome.
The Supreme Court has directed secretary irrigation and others to submit details as what efforts had been made to store the water in the province. Hearing a petition for the construction of Dadu Dam, the court directed the provincial government to submit details about the construction of dams in the province.
Petitioner's counsel Rasheed A Razvi submitted that the provincial government had decided to construct a dam in Dadu 20 years ago but no progress had been made yet. He submitted that Rs.1500 million had been allocated for the construction of dam but work had been stopped after initial stage.
The secretary irrigation submitted that construction of a dam was not feasible in the area and the project has been stopped. The court observed that where the rain water would be stored in monsoon seasons and directed the provincial government to submit details with regard to construction of dams in the province within two weeks.
