340 acres of vegetables growing in sewage cleared, SHC told

The administrations of the Malir and Korangi districts have destroyed the cultivation of vegetables through wastewater in the Ibrahim Hyderi and Murad Memon Goth areas, government officials told the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday.

Filing a progress report with regard to the action taken against the people involved in farming vegetables through sewage, the Malir and Korangi additional deputy commissioners said that the district administrations time and again made serious efforts to destroy the cultivation of vegetables through wastewater.

They said that the district administrations had cleared around 340 acres of vegetables growing in sewage, while over 25 cattle farms existing on the bed of Malir River were also dismantled.

They also said that they will continue making efforts to clear the Malir River area of the cultivation of vegetables through wastewater and ensure that such a practice is not carried out in future.

Petitioner Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi had said that several people were involved in vegetable farming through sewage in the Korangi, Malir, Landhi and Surjani Town areas. He said that due to vegetable farming through wastewater, the lives of the citizens were at risk of several diseases, and that the government functionaries were not taking action against such people. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar directed the petitioner’s counsel to verify the progress reports and come prepared on March 25.

Islands’ mangroves

The SHC directed the federal and provincial law officers to file comments with regard to the protection of mangroves at the Buddo and Bundal islands.

While hearing the petitions against the promulgation of the Pakistan Islands Development Authority Ordinance 2020, the federal law officer said that the federal government had not extended or issued any new ordinance with regard to the status of island, and that the Pida Ordinance had already lapsed.

The petitioner’s counsel said that the other issue in the petition was in relation to the protection of mangroves of the Buddo and Bundal islands. The court directed the law officers to file comments with regard to the protection of mangroves around the islands by March 31.

The petitioners have assailed the vires of the Pida Ordinance promulgated for the development and management of the twin islands situated in the internal and territorial waters of Pakistan. The court had been requested to declare the impugned ordinance as unlawful and to restrain the federal government from taking over the two islands under the ordinance.

They also requested that the court direct the federal government not to proceed with the implementation of the impugned ordinance and restrain it from appointing a chairman for Pida, for which an advertisement had been published in the national dailies.