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NOVEMBER
2009
ISSUES:
Death
of a social activist
THE
desecration of Gutter Baghicha, a designated parkland for the people of
Karachi, has been written about umpteen times over the past couple of
years, but no effective action was taken by those concerned.
On Nov 7, 2009, Nisar Baloch, the spearhead of the Gutter
Baghicha Bachao Tehreek and a member of Shehri, two NGOs which have been
trying for the last two decades to save this lung of the city,was shot
through the head by unidentified assailants as he was leaving his
house.
As recorded in a Nov 10 editorial in the national press, “After Baloch’s
death, most of Old Golimar, Bada Board area and Pak Colony,
predominantly Sindhi and Baloch lower class neighbourhoods, were shut
down in protest. The police had to be called to control the public
outrage against the murder of a concerned citizen, known for his
long-standing campaign against the land-grabbing mafia and the
indiscriminate conversion of parks, playgrounds, beach promenades,
sewage treatment plants, government building plots and even plots in the
sea into commercial projects by the authorities.
“The City District Government Karachi is accused of having
changed the status of at least 26 parks and playgrounds in middle,
lower-middle and working-class neighbourhoods of the city. While a large
tract of land by the sea has been turned into a sprawling recreation
point, Bagh-i-Ibn-i-Qasim, in the heart of a posh locality, the right of
the lesser mortals in the metropolis to public spaces and amenity plots
is being flagrantly flouted. Several petitions are pending at various
levels of the courts against illegal conversion, grabbing and disposal
of land as well as amenity plots all over Karachi….
“Nisar Baloch understandably became a thorn in the side of the
land-grabbing mafia, reportedly backed by influential ethnic and
political parties of the city. Ironically, he had addressed a press
conference only a day before he was murdered where he highlighted the
issue in detail and pinpointed (perhaps fatally) the forces lending
administrative and political support to the illegal occupation of the
land of Gutter Baghicha. Importantly, Nisar Baloch had criticised
both the MQM and PPP in equal measure, the former for complicity in
coercion and the latter for its expedient tardiness. The Sindh chief
minister had slapped a ban on the disposal and leasing of plots by the
city government in July 2009. The ban was challenged by Nazim Mustafa
Kamal but this public interest matter was settled out of court as
if it was a compoundable dispute.”
Nisar’s widow, 29-year old Madiha, has written to Chief Justice
Iftihkar Chaudhry under the heading: ‘Appeal for justice in the matter
of Gutter Baghicha, Manghopir Road, Karachi (a) Punish the killers of my
social-activist husband, Nisar Baloch (b) Save Gutter Baghicha Park from
land-grabbers and criminals’.
The text: “My 45-year old husband, Nisar Baloch, resident of Old
Golimar in Karachi, worked most of his life for the poor people of our
area, and laboured especially hard over the past 16 years to preserve
the remaining 480 acres of Gutter Baghicha Trans-Lyari Park.
“Powerful political parties, corrupt officials and vested interests
want to grab this amenity land, and, during the past six months, have
occupied a part of the park and are building houses on it. My husband
held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Nov6, 2009 to
expose by name the criminals involved and to ask for your intervention
in the matter (see press clippings attached….)
“He was brutally shot dead the next morning at about 9.30 am near our
house while driving his motorcycle, leaving me a widow with a two-year
old daughter. Details of the murder in cold blood are given in the
attached press clippings of Nov 8, 2009.
“This brutal act has ruined our life; I and my daughter request your
Honour to take lawful action against those responsible, order an
impartial investigation of my husband’s murder, and help preserve his
dream of a developed Gutter Baghicha Park accessible to all for
recreation.”
This targeted murder was undertaken the day after Nisar’s press
conference. Who will be next on the list? Could it be a man of the
Rangers? Or could it be a police official? Or a functionary of the City
District Government’s Revenue Office whose sworn duty it is to protect
government and amenity land?
Karachi is a volatile tinderbox that could ignite at any time. It has
slowly reached this stage over the past three decades because our
politicians and government officials (not a single statesman among the
lot) have progressively abdicated their statutory duty to
render good governance and maintain the writ of law.
The recent campaign to free the judiciary from the shackles that since
1947 have increasingly restrained it augurs well for the
re-establishment of justice across the land. The citizens
of Pakistan look to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry,
who has himself been a victim of injustice, to come to the aid of the
oppressed and exploited.
(By Ardeshir
Cowasjee, Dawn-7, 15/11/2009)
Prof Nauman bows
out
Prominent Marxist, an associate professor at the prestigious NED
University of Engineering and Technology and a social activist
Mohammad Nauman passed away on Sunday morning, leaving thousands of
his students, friends and colleagues mourning. He was laid to rest at
the University of Karachi graveyard on Sunday evening.
Born on December 19, 1951 in Bahawalpur, Nauman acquired his
secondary education at Cadet College, Petaro, and then graduated from
NED University in electrical engineering in 1974. He did his Masters in
electrical engineering from North Carolina, USA.
After completing his education, Nauman initially joined Karachi Nuclear
Power Plant for a while but his inquisitiveness prompted him to opt for
NED University where he was teaching for almost 30 years. He was a
prominent student leader associated with
left-wing National Students Federation (NSF) during late 1960s
and early 1970s and actively participated in the democratic upsurge in
1969 against military dictator Gen. Ayub Khan.
Despite having a brilliant academic record, he preferred to teach rather
than acquiring lucrative jobs at multinational companies. However, one
could find thousands of his students in different organisations
across Pakistan at key positions.
Committed to the well-being of the common man right from the beginning,
he helped Edhi Foundation to develop its wireless service on a
voluntary basis and also served as technical advisor to the
defunctKarachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in the early 1990s
when Fahimuzaman Khan was its administrator. He wrote hundreds of
research papers on topics such as bonded labour, and water and power and
campaigned for the displaced people of Chotiari Dam and other similar
causes. He was widely quoted in national and international media.
Prof. Nauman was quite well till Saturday and attended a dinner in
honour of his friend Prof. Tauseef Ahmed Khan who has been
awarded a PhD degree recently, at the residence of an old friend Abid
Ali Syed.
“Many old friends had gathered at my residence where we had arranged a
dinner in honour of Prof. Tauseef Ahmed Khan and Prof. Nauman was also
there chatting with eminent lawyer Ali Ahmed Kurd, politician Yousuf
Masti Khan and other friends,” Syed, former city editor of a leading
English daily told The News.
“At about 6am he came out of his room complaining breathing problem
and left us mourning,” his uncle who lived with him said. Prof. Nauman
was suffering from asthma for the last couple of years.
Thousands of students, friends, political leaders and
activists bode him farewell at the University of Karachi graveyard.
Prominent amongst them were Prof. S. M. Naseer, economists Aly Ercelawn,
Haris Gazdar and Dr Asad Sayeed, Executive Director Pakistan Institute
of Labour Education and Research (PILER) Karamat Ali, ex-president
Karachi Bar Association Akhter Husain, politician Yousuf Masti
Khan, B.M. Kutty, Hameed Haroon, Fahimuzaman Khan, educationist Dr.
Syed Jaffar Ahmed and actor and academic Khalid Ahmed.
“I never saw him hurting anybody even if he differed with him,” said
Tariq Saeed, a senior structural engineer and an old friend of
Prof. Nauman. “He was always a helping hand and a true dervish,” he
said.
“Right from the beginning Nauman was dedicated, committed and
disciplined. He was never late,” said Shahab Aftab, another senior
engineer and an old friend of Prof. Nauman.
(By
Shahid Husain, The News-13, 16/11/2009)
Alarming
rise in pedestrian deaths on city roads
As
the families of the three children killed in different traffic
accidents on Friday mourned the tragic deaths, a study on such
fatalities suggests that pedestrians have been at growing risk and 250
of them lost their lives on different city roads in the first six months
of the year.
Though the overall number of deaths in road accidents rose to
610 from January 2009 to June 2009 – compared to 582 fatalities
recorded between the same months of 2008 – the data compiled by the
Road Traffic Injury Research and Prevention Centre at the Jinnah
Postgraduate and Medical Centre shows that the figures of pedestrian
victims jumped by 18 per cent in the first half of the year.
A total of 251 pedestrians were crushed do death in the first half of
the calendar year against 212 recorded during the same period in
2008.
On Friday, two of the three children killed in road accidents were
pedestrians. Researchers find a lack of awareness of pedestrians, the
non-existence of pedestrian bridges at a few sensitive road crossings
and serious violations of traffic rules, mostly by commercial
transport drivers, as the main reasons behind the deaths on roads.
Similarly, some people believe that mega-infrastructure development in
the city primarily focuses on the swift flow of traffic, ignoring
pedestrian-friendly structures, that has made road crossing an issue for
people.
“A number of pedestrian bridges are being built by the city
government,” said Syed Ameer Hussain at the Road Traffic Injury
Research and Prevention Centre. “But there are a couple of issues
which needed to be addressed to reduce the number of such fatalities.”
He suggested that pedestrian bridges must be connected to bus stops and
the public transport must be regulated to stop only at the
marked areas. “But, unfortunately, it’s observed that mainly buses
are not regulated by the traffic police, allowing them to pick and
drop passengers without realising the sensitivity of the roads,” he
added.
Deaths in road accidents started rising alarmingly during the last few
years, as in 2008 more than 1,100 people lost their lives due to similar
incidents in different parts of the city, which showed an increase of 33
per cent over 12 months. The official data revealed that every seventh
person among 100,000 Karachiites who died last year was killed in
a road accident.
Experts believe that infrastructure development raised many
fronts for the pedestrians to handle, including crossing expanded roads
and finding space along them to walk remain some serious issues.
“The pedestrian space has started vanishing,” said Dr Noman Ahmed,
the head of architecture and planning department at the NED
University of Engineering and Technology. “With
massive infrastructure development, vehicles dimensions are
increasing, but not for pedestrians. Three other areas have also been
marked, which pose a serious threat to pedestrians’ lives and needed
to be addressed at the earliest.”
He said where roads were being expanded, the footpaths along them were
hardly maintained, grabbing the right of the pedestrians on the allowed
space.
“Similarly vehicles’ speed management hardly exists in the city,”
said Dr Ahmed. “We drive on roads in a mainstream urban setup, but
behave like enjoying ride as if on a highway. Finally, there is a
serious issue of awareness among pedestrians, which also increases the
severity of the subject.”
(By
Imran Ayub, Daily Dawn, 15/11/2009)
Tarin
approves funds for 500 CNG buses
Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has removed the final
stumbling block in the release of Rs300 million for the Shaheed Benazir
Bhutto CNG Bus Project by extending the anticipatory
approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic
Council (ECNEC), The News has learnt.
Sources told The News that a summary had been initiated on October 29 by
the federal environment secretary for anticipatory approval of the ECNEC.
Following Tarin’s approval, the Energy Conservation Centre (ENERCON), Ministry
of Environment, is all set to release the Rs300 million for the current
financial year to facilitate the implementation of the Karachi CNG Bus
Project. Despite directions issued by President Asif Ali Zardari for
the induction of 500 CNG dedicated buses by December 2009, lengthy
procedural formalities had delayed the project. The bureaucratic red-tapism
included the approval of the revised project cost (PC)-1 by Central
Development Working Party (CDWP) and subsequent endorsement by the ECNEC.
The ministry of environment, at the behest of theministry of finance,
had opted to obtain anticipatory approval of ECNEC for the
implementation of the project on a fast-track basis. The pledged amount
for the project would be available within one week, sources said, with
funds first being transferred to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Out of the Rs300 million made available, Rs280.75 million would be
transferred to the SBP, which in turn would release funds to operators
through notified banks. Sources added that Rs19.25 million would be
given to the Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC) of City
District Government Karachi (CDGK) to establish the Project
Implementation Monitoring Unit (PIMU). The PMIU would be responsible for
the establishment of expenses, and would also conduct research regarding
these buses. The unit would have a 16 member skeleton staff which would
be led by a project director. Revealing details of the project, sources
told The News that a Rs2.5 billion subsidy was approved by the federal
government exclusively for Karachi for the procurement of 4,000 CNG
buses over a five-year period. The new dedicated CNG buses shall also be
exempted from 15 per cent import duty. Sources also told The News that
40 CNG green routes had already been identified for the new buses in
Karachi.
As per the project modalities, sources said, bus investors may apply for
a minimum fleet of 25 buses, with a maximum debt-to-equity ratio fixed
at 80:20. The federal government will contribute a total of Rs677,181 as
subsidy over five years toward the cost of the one bus; Rs300,000 will
be provided as upfront grant as part of down payment, and Rs377,181 as
interest subsidy which would be payable over five years.
The Shaheed Benazir Bhutto CNG Bus Project has acquired much
significance because if it is completed successfully, the project would
be replicated in nine other cities of the country.
(By
Qadeer Tanoli, The News-13, 19/11/2009)
KCR
revival meets with yet another interruption
Resettlement
issue still unresolved despite completion of satellite
imagery by Suparco
The latest initiative to revive the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR)
has yet again been interrupted due inaction by the stake-holders. While
the Sindh government, Pakistan Railways and City District
Government Karachi (CDGK) are yet to provide pledged funds,
there has also been a delay in formulating the resettlement plan, an
official associated with the KCR told The News.
This is despite the fact that the satellite imagery of KCR
route has already been prepared by PakistanSpace and Upper
Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco).
The Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) study to initiate
resettlement of the people living along the route of the KCR was
supposed to be completed by the end of October but the official said
that the study would now hopefully be completed by the end of November.
The issue of allocating around 300 acres land for the affected people
has still not been resolved. Over Rs817 million was expected to be
released by the stakeholders during the current financial year 2009-10
for this purpose. However, not even a single rupee has been released,
the official said.
Official sources told The News that the fourth meeting of the board of
directors of Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC), which runs the
project, was chaired by Chief Secretary Sindh Fazal-ur-Rehman back
on June 6. The meeting took up the issue of allotment of 300 acres land
and release of Rs490 million by Pakistan Railways, Rs204 million by the
Sindh government and Rs122 million by the CDGK.
The revival of KCR at the cost of Rs128.6 billion with a modified PC-1
was approved at the meeting of Executive Committee of the National
Economic Council (Ecnec) on September 3.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will be funding 93.5
per cent cost of the project, and the rest of 6.5pc i.e. US$101.1
million (Rs8088 million) will be borne by KUTC stakeholders.
The officials said that during the current financial year 2009-10 an
amount of over Rs817 million was required by KUTC for carrying out
resettlement of squatters, carrying out a topographical survey,
soil investigation, third party evaluation, etc.
They said that KUTC had recently sent letters to the Ministry of
Railways, Sindh government and the CDGK to release the funds in order to
ensure uninterrupted progress of the KCR project - however, no funds
have so far be released.
Regarding the resettlement plan, the officials said that during the
fourth meeting of KUTC board of directors it was decided that the senior
member Board of Revenue (BoR) and district coordination officer (DCO)
Karachi will make arrangements for the allocation of 300 acres of land
for the purpose. It was also decided that DCO Karachi will function as
focal person in this regard.
Subsequently, the chief secretary held a meeting with Sindh government
and Railways officials wherein it was decided that a committee
comprising officials of the BoR, KUTC and Pakistan Railways will
finalize the site for the resettlement of squatters. Official sources
said that the Revenue officials had identified 100 acres of land
in Bin Qasim Town but it was not considered “suitable” by
KUTC due to hilly area and its location at a distance of about
six kilometers from National Highway. Moreover, having the land in
chunks will increase the cost of infrastructure facilities.
The sources said that, on September 7, a meeting was chaired by DCO
Karachi in which managing director KUTC presented a proposal that about
300 acres of Pakistan Railways land near Shah Latif Town (old site of
Marshaling Yard of PR) was under litigation with Malir Development
Authority. He suggested that this issue could be settled amicably
outside the court on two grounds: a) MDA or BoR should re-notify the
boundaries of Shah Latif Town in accordance with the land (1344.19
acres) transferred to the Sindh government marked “A” and “B” on
the plan, b) PR will transfer the suit land portion “C” under their
control for the resettlement of affected persons and utilize the land to
be cleared of squatters along mainline for its operational
requirements planned on the PR land at Jumma Goth.
Officials say that resettlement of squatters is a critical prerequisite
for the success of the project as the donor agency, JICA, requires that
the re-settlement sites should be earmarked prior to signing the loan
agreement.
In order to finalize these issues, another meeting of KUTC board of
directors was expected to be held on Friday 6th
Nov 2009.
(By
Imtiaz Ali, The News-13, 05/11/2009)
Subsidising
roads for the affluent
The new mantra accepted by both the provincial and federal
governments on urban development is road widening and construction
of flyovers and underpasses to address the problem of
growing traffic congestion arising from greater prosperity. In
this writer’s view, the road network in large cities likeKarachi, Lahore and Islamabad visibly
reflects the class division in these agglomerations. And the urban
transport policies of both the provincial and federal
governments are heavily skewed in favour of owners of motor cars as
opposed to other types of road users.
In these cities, cars are used as transport by perhaps one in five users
of roads who then control more than 75 per cent of the road space. The
growing traffic congestion because of the rapidly increasing population
of cars is contributing to a sharp decline in average vehicle speeds.
The prescription selected by these governments for attending to this
problem has been further widening of roads and more flyovers and
underpasses, a policy akin to loosening one’s belt to treat obesity.
With this passion to pander to the demands and needs of this more vocal
class of road users, no serious thought or effort has gone into the
improvement of public transport facilities.
Large parts of the city are losing space for footpaths to the broadening
of roads or for the parking of motor cars. While the poor find it
extremely difficult to travel from one part of the city to the other in
a reasonable time, the richer segments of the urban population plying
cars control more and more public space and resources for widening roads
of which they will be the main users. In other words, one class of
transport is being pampered as more and more common urban space or prime
commercial land is devotedto the exclusive needs of just one small class
of citizens — the owners of automobilesand users of other forms of
transport (largely the less privileged) who rely on modes of
transport represented by buses, rickshaws and walking.
As a consequence of this policy, the rich residents of Lahore are being
subsidised both by the impoverished households and the disfavoured
taxpayers of smaller towns and cities (themselves deprived of even a
decent, rationally maintained road network) as scarce public revenue
resources are invested in such infrastructure while slum dwellers have
to contend with unsafe and contaminated drinking water (the
primary source of many common illnesses taking up a large share of their
already meager earnings) and unsubsidised urban public
transport to get to their workplaces.
Finally, as mentioned above, the adoption of such an approach has also
resulted in prime commercial land (which could have been used for
stimulating economic activity and job creation) being used for widening
of roads and, in the case of say Lahore, constructing motorways in the
centre of the metropolis so that the well-to-do can travel swiftly and
un-hindered from one place to another. This diversion has also stalled
the enlargement of domestic commerce critical for the development of
products and skills that eventually will support promotion of exports of
such goods and services. The latter outcome is partly because, unlike
the approach embraced the world over, we have impeded the growth of the
concept of a walk-in customer and encouraged the restrictive concept of
a drive-in customer (especially without the concept of malls largely
owing to flawed building and zoning regulations) which is constraining
the development of a buoyant, dynamic domestic commerce sector. And
while commercial activity is impeded by obsolete zoning
and building regulations, failure of governments to enforce traffic
laws and develop mass transport systems (consider that large retail
stores in London, Hong Kong and New York are not
required by law to create parking spaces in their own
buildings, the governments are simply managing traffic and enforcing
relating laws) no such regulation checks the growth of mosques and
madrassahs in any part of the city — their growth proceeds unchecked,
unopposed and untaxed, although the rule book on commercialisation is
thrown with great relish at others, seemingly less politically powerful,
for example, low-cost private schools.
(By
Shahid Kardar, The News-13, 02/11/2009)
Senate
committee worried over incomplete Lyari Expressway
The
Senate’s standing committee on communications on
Monday expressed its serious concern over the slow pace of work on
the Lyari Expressway project and directed the authorities
concerned to complete it on a priority basis.
The committee, which met at the Parliament House with Senator
Wali Muhammad Badini in the chair, also noted that the delay in
completing the project had increased its cost manifold.
Construction of the 38-kilometre expressway was started in 2002 and
supposed to be completed within 30 months. Originally, the project’s
estimated cost was Rs7.5 billion but excessive delays have pushed the
cost up to Rs20 billion.
A seven-kilometre section of the expressway is yet to be built, but work
on this section has been stopped owing to encroachment of the lands
falling in the route.
Initially, the estimate for the construction side of the project was put
at Rs4.892 billion. A revised PC-I of Rs5.081 billion was approved by
the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec)
in April 2003. Under another revision, the cost was raised to Rs11.7
billion.
There was a similar upward revision of the cost of resettlement of the
people affected by the project. For the resettlement of about 30,000
affected families, originally an amount of Rs2.7 billion was allocated.
The amount was later raised to Rs4.7 billion which was further raised to
Rs8.7 billion. According to the relevant record, around 6,000 families
are yet to be resettled. Speaking to Dawn, Naeem Hussain Chattha of
PML-Q, a member of the standing committee, said political expediencies
had caused the delay in completing the project, adding that despite
spending billions of rupees, the facility was yet to be commissioned. He
urged the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pakistan People’s
Party (PPP) to do the needful in this regard as people had been paying
dearly over the years owing to the hardships involved.
The senator noted that a significant amount of money had been
spent on the resettlement and rehabilitation of the affected families
but the remaining part of the expressway was still not cleared of
encroachment.
The issue has become so chronic that the committee has come up with an
option to detour the original route of the expressway. It has now
suggested that overhead bridges be built in the areas where people are
not ready shift to some other place to vacate the required lands. The
committee has also advised the relevant authorities to Lyari riverbed
where possible.
“At present, it is the only way forward because in the given
situation, I don’t see any possibility of these people agreeing to
move out; their number is increasing with every passing day,” the
senator said. He said that theNational Highway Authority (NHA) in
consultation with the FWO should work out a feasibility of such
options.
The NHA is paying Rs12 million a month to the FWO for consultancy and
supervision but construction work can be undertaken only after the site
is cleared of all encroachment.
(By
Khawar Ghumman, Daily Dawn, 24/11/2009)
Narreri
Lake poisoned by LBOD project
The huge quantity of poisonous chemicals brought by Left Bank Outfall
Drainage (LBOD), have turned the once beautiful Narrrei Lake into a
barren and poisonous zone.
The LBOD streams saline seepage, pump saline groundwater, and industrial
and municipal wastewater to the sea at Zero Point, Badin District,
polluting the fresh water lakes on its way. It has destroyed
the entire environment and ecosystem and about 800 villages are located
along the LBOD. People are compelled to drink poisonous water from the
drainage.
Among LBOD’s many victims, one of the worst is Nerreri Lake. The
Lake, situated close to the sea at about 16,000 acres of land, receives
poisonous water from LBOD and other drains. The lake was once a source
of providing natural hatchery to the fish and sanctuary
to migratory birds.
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) Chairperson Mohammed Ali
Shah told The News that the drainage of poisonous effluent into the
sea has destroyed Narreri. “It is no more attractive for birds. There
is no fish, no vegetation,” Shah said, adding that the fishermen,
after losing their source of living, have migrated to other areas. He
estimated that the lake was the source of livelihood for about 3000
people.
Shah added that the sources of water for hundreds of fresh
water lakes in Thatta and Badin districts were canals and tributaries
which have now become polluted due to urban and industrial
effluent. A large number of other fresh water lakes which are directly
connected to such drainage schemes have also converted into saline
water lakes, while many others have dried up completely, he added.
The PFF Chairperson said that despite this colossal loss the government
could not initiate a programme to rehabilitate the affected communities
and to save the environment from being further polluted.
A 60-year-old person from a neighbouring village, Rajab Mallah, told The
News that floods in monsoons and high tides in the sea, breaching in the
LBOD and other linked drains have put the lives of hundreds of families
vulnerable to disasters. He said that 15 years ago the people of the
area spent a happy life by catching fish from the lake and growing
vegetables around it. But now, he said, the fish are not found and there
are no vegetables.
Apart from one canal that irrigates only a small piece of land, there is
no other source of water supply. The people have to travel
several miles to fetch drinking water, he said.
Meanwhile Mohammed Khan Samoon of Badin Rural Development
Organisation said that Narreri’s condition is deteriorating. “It
is barren now. Salinity is increasing due to sea erosion and lack
of fresh water.”
A local activist Ameer Mandhro said that some women of the area suffered
burning of hands duringwashing clothes from LBOD water.
He said that supply of potable water, health care, and appropriate
transportation facility are main demands of the community. But the
authorities concerned do not have these demands on their agenda, he
claimed.
Most of the dwellers of the area are suffering from several diseases
such as hepatitis, skin ailments, eye infections, TB and abdominal
sufferings. The senior physicians link these diseases to the use of
contaminated water.
(By
Jan Khaskheli, The News-13, 25/11/2009
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