HYDERABAD, Nov 9: Irrigation experts and farmers, expressing their scepticism on the launching of phase-II of the Left Bank Outfall Drain programme, have demanded that environmental study of phase-I of the programme should be conducted first.

Speaking on 'Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan for LBOD', organized by the environmental wing of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority at a local hotel on Monday, they opined that the LBOD should not be extended because phase-I of the programme had already wreaked havoc in Badin district, and added that before launching the phase-II, a detailed environmental study should be carried out on scientific lines.

They said that fisheries and wildlife experts as well as representatives of social welfare organizations should be associated with the study that should include the water quality of the tidal link and the Chotiari Reservoir.

They proposed that the weirs of the Dhoro Puran Outfall Drain should be lowered, and effluent of the tidal link should either be pumped out or a regulator be set up to check the backlash of sea water.

Speaking on the occasion, Provincial Irrigation Secretary Ashfaq Memon claimed that contrary to the propaganda, the LBOD was an outstanding project despite having a small defective section.

National Development Programme provincial coordinator Brigadier (Rtd) Abdul Haq, while denying reports that the NDP was being wound up, asserted that landowners and feudal lords wanted the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority to be dissolved since it was a hurdle in sealing water.

He claimed that the World Bank had predicted in 1997 that influential landlords would oppose irrigational reforms.

Chairman of the Environmental Centre, Sindh Agriculture University, Professor Saleh Soomro, while opposing the launching of phase-II, said that the effluent of phase-I had become unmanageable, and added that no project planned against the laws of nature could succeed.

However, Wapda XEN Saleem Qureshi claimed that following the construction of the LBOD, the value of land in Nawabshah, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas had appreciated, and added that the havoc in Badin district last year was because of illegal cuts in the project.