As Manchhar Lake contamination increases, authorities turn a blind eye

Supreme Court irked by lack of govt action to solve pollution problem at lake

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) noted on Wednesday with concern that the level of pollution in the Manchhar Lake had been gradually increasing for years, as the authorities were merely giving statements instead of taking concrete measures to save one of the country's largest freshwater reservoirs.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, asked the officers concerned to 'actually' resolve the problem of pollution in the water reservoir. The bench that also comprised justices Maqbool Baqar and Sajjad Ali Shah was hearing a suo motu case regarding contamination of Manchhar Lake due to disposal of effluent from the Main Nara Valley (MNV) drain, which was supposed to dump the same into the yet-to-be-completed Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD).

Then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had, in July, 2011, taken suo motu notice of the contamination of Manchhar Lake, declaring depriving the fishermen of their livelihood as the worst example of human rights violation.

The lake, situated in Sindh's Dadu district, is one of Asia's largest freshwater reservoirs, which, according to environmentalists, is dying because of pollution.



Ever since, the country's top court had been issuing various directions and orders to the federal and provincial departments to contain the growing pollution by installing filtration plants as an immediate measure to ensure untreated hazardous effluent was not discharged into the lake.

Previously, the apex court had set guidelines for the departments to contain the level of pollution.

During Wednesday's proceedings, after dozens of rounds of court proceedings in the last seven years, officials still came up with the typical statement that 'efforts are under way' to resolve the problem. They failed to satisfy the court by showing any noticeable progress on the matter.

This attitude irked the judges, who clearly told the officers to 'resolve' the problem.

"We are hearing for years ‘work is being done’," Justice Ahmed told the provincial law officer and the officers. "But, [the] issue of pollution in the lake still remains unresolved," he added.



The bench members became visibly upset with the lack of headway in the task of containing contamination in the lake, which was source of livelihood for hundreds of the fishermen besides providing fresh water to others.

Justice Baqar told the officers that the court was receiving various complaints, yet the problem remained unsolved.

The bench expressed its dismay over the slow pace of work on the part of the federal and provincial authorities to save the lake from pollution.

Justice Shah reminded the officers how important the issue was and apparently how indifferent their response was to it. "People are dying from inflow of contamination in the lake," he remarked. "But, the officers are demonstrating negligence," he lamented.

The bench asked them to resolve the problem and submit a progress report by the next date of hearing.