HYDERABAD: Expressing concern over non-completion of the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) project, the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) on Tuesday held the Sindh government and provincial elected representatives responsible for the delay.

The concern was voiced at a SAB meeting which noted that due tocontinuous release of saline and poisonous water, Sindh`s historical Manchhar Lake and other smaller lakes had been destroyed.

It observed that the elected representatives of Sindh did not show any concern over genuine issues of people and preferred politics to serve their personal interests, which was a great injustice with the people of this province.

These factors included reduced flows of the Indus, increased demand of water for agriculture purposes and release of saline water from Punjab and Balochistan without any proper drainage system.It was informed that the project was launched in 2001 to carry the efnuent of the concerned areas to Gharo creek during a dictatorial regime, but unfortunately the project remained incomplete in the successive democratic regimes.

The meeting regretted that the elected representatives of Sindh as well as the provincial government were not showing any concern for completion of RBOD-H and effinent continued to be disposed of in Manchhar, Hamal and other lalces.

It said that unending release of effluent had destroyed those lakes completely and their rehabilitation was not being ensured.

The meeting noted that due todestruction of those lakes, ecology of the lakes had been destroyed besides losses to rural economy of people and environment.

Chairing the meeting, SAB president Abdul Majeed Nizamani said Manchhar Lake used to produce 3,000 tonnes of fish annually, which had now been reduced to just 100 tonnes and species of fish had dropped from 200 to just 14.

He said that agriculture production which was dependent on water flows from Manchhar Lal(e had been badly affected while migratory birds, whose number was once counted at 45,000, had reduced to 1,200. He informed thatrelease of poisonous water from Manchhar Lake into the Indus had led to death of 40 people in 2004.

He said that drop in agriculture and fish production had caused colossal losses to the economy of Sindh.

He said the Sindh government was not playing its due role as far as this project`s implementation was concerned and added that it was also collective responsibility of political leadership of Sindh to tal(e up the matter.

The meeting was attended by Syed Mehmood Nawaz Shah, Dr Zulfiqar Yousfani, Dr Bashir Nizamani, Syed Nadeem Shah and others.