DADU: the federal and Sindh governments have been urged to take serious notice of the poor state of Manchhar Lake and save its beauty and civilization.
Environmental, water and development experts have demanded this from the governments to protect the livelihood of the fishermen who are dependent on this lake.
Also, the local fishermen of Manchhar Lake requested to the Sindh government to provide them all kind of basic facilities like health, education and clean drinking water.
It is worth adding here that the waters of the lake have become polluted and poisonous by dint of Main Nara Valley Drain that is flowing into the lake.
As a result of this, Manchhar Lake had lost its natural beauty and boat civilization and fishermen have started migrating to the other parts of the country.
A local fisherman, Mustafa, from village Tehni told this scribe that owing to high degradation and pollution all eco system of the lake had destroyed and the only source of income of fishing has come to an end.
‘Thousands of villagers have moved to other parts of the province. The acute shortage of basic facilities of health, education and water has also been contributing to overall deterioration,’ said Mustafa.
He added that fishermen living at Band Manchhar, Shah Hassan, Zero point, and 200 more villages surrounding Manchhar Lake are without basic facilities of health, education and drinking water.
Renowned development and water expert Dr Sono Khangharani advised the federal and provincial governments to immediately try to stop flowing of polluted, poisonous water of MNVD coming from different parts of the country in the Manchhar Lake.
Secondly, he added, the governments should release fresh water into the lake through river Indus in the same manner it released to Keenjhar Lake. He said these are the only ways to protect Manchhar Lake from high degradation.
Dr Khadim Lakhiar, a former project manager of BDN (Basic Development Need) Project of WHO, said that the local government had not even posted a lady doctor at Manchhar Lake due to which the women of fishermen have been made to deliver their babies on boats, increasing the risks of deaths for both mothers and newborns.
He suggested to the government to establish a maternity home at Manchhar Lake. Also, he added, one of the main issues is acute shortage of clean drinking water and because of that waterborne diseases are on the rise.
Babar Hussain Effindi, special assistant to Sindh’s chief minister for irrigation department, informed that sometime back 29 RO (River Osmosis) Plants were functioning along with dykes of Manchhar Lake to provide drinking water to the local fishermen.
He added that Sindh government is making a plan to start rehabilitation of Manchhar Lake to save it and to stop MNVD saline water flowing into the lake.
