PTI leader blames PPP for deplorable condition of Manchar Lake

The lake is dying owing to corruption and negligence of the government, says MPA

HYDERABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) General Secretary MPA Haleem Adil Sheikh has blamed Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Sindh government for decadence of the country's largest freshwater lake, Manchar, and plight of dwellers of the surrounding areas. Sheikh, who visited the lake as part of his protest campaign against PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari on Friday, also accused Sindh chief minister for persistently neglecting the lake which falls in his electoral constituency.
"The lake is dying owing to corruption and negligence of the government." The lake spreads to around 200 square kilometres. The prime source of its pollution is the Main Nara Valley (MNV) drain, which brings agricultural and industrial waste from upper Sindh and Punjab to the lake. The drain's capacity is 3,000 cusecs.


The construction of Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) project began in 2001 to channel MNV's wastewater to the sea but it is still incomplete. "The RBOD is yet to be completed due to the corruption of rulers and every year the cost of this project is rising, putting additional burden on taxpayers’ money," he lamented.
He said that the corrupt rulers of Sindh are preoccupied with plundering public money and they do not feel bothered to pay attention to the lake or the livelihoods of thousands of people like fishermen and farmers connected with it. Sheikh claimed that the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has not visited the lake once. "The CM has abandoned the people of his constituency."


The PTI leader contended that the people of Sindh have become fed up with corruption and bad governance of the PPP in Sindh and they particularly want to see Zardari and his associates jailed. Sheikh deplored that the provincial government installed reverse osmosis plants are lying defunct and the people are left to drink from the contaminated water of Manchar.
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Sheikh claimed that the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has not visited the lake once