SC to send irrigation secy to jail if Manchar lake remains dirty

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday informed Sindh Irrigation Secretary Jamal Mustafa of the consequences following his failure of getting Lake Manchar cleaned.

A two-member bench presided over by Justice Gulzar Ahmed heard the suo moto case at the Karachi registry. The irrigation secretary appeared before the court along with officials of the Sindh government.

Mustafa assured the court of an ongoing clean up process which would soon yield visible results.

Unsatisfied with the answer, Justice Ahmed remarked that the provincial government had spent trillions of rupees yet the people of Sindh were never given access to potable drinking water. “Departments of the Sindh government want the people to continue dying under the same circumstances,” he said.

“Since the past twenty years, projects are underway, however not a single drop of potable water has been provided [to the residents of Sindh],” he said further and added that if the matter is investigated everyone would find out that the Sindh government did not spend even a single rupee.

“Turkey has managed to clean an entire sea yet you have been unable to do anything,” said the justice while commenting on the progress of the task and reiterated that he would send the responsible officials behind bars if the same attitude is kept up.

The court noted that the provincial government would be held accountable for the expenditure of tax money in the past two decades as the lack of progress in the past eight years was glaringly obvious.

Furthermore, Justice Gulzar observed that marine life and the poultry industry was dying out at a fast pace and the situation is going from bad to worse. “Humans are roaming around like cattle in Sindh. Who will protect them?” he asked.

“Where will the water be stored in case of rains?” the justice inquired, regretting that the water from the 2010 flood could not be stored, a resource he said would have lasted ten years.

“Has the Sindh government even planted a single tree? The world will also not have mercy on us if we continue in this manner,” Justice Ahmed said

The apex court concluded the hearing by ordering the Sindh government to submit a detailed report on Manchar lake within two weeks.

Details to be added in the report are of the funds issued and the amount spent on the lake in addition to the estimated date by when the lake’s water will be potable.