HYDERABAD, May 25: Senior Vice-President of the Jamiat-i-Ulema Pakistan and leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal MNA Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair has said that economic development was meaningless keeping in view the hyper-inflation.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he said that the quarterly report of the State Bank of Pakistan had clearly mentioned that prices had increased by 10 to 30 per cent and added that due to imbalance between imports and exports the price hike could not be controlled.

He said inordinate increase in the prices of essential consumer goods such as edible oil, wheat, flour, rice, sugar, meat, milk, vegetables and fruits had broken the back of the common man.

He said the State Bank report had fully exposed the tall claims of the government.

He demanded that the government should accept its failure and resign forthwith.

SAB: The office bearers of the Sindhi Adabi Board Press Employees Union, Ghulam Hyder Kachhi, Sikandar Shah, Hafiz Ahmed Eindhar, Ayaz Soomro and others have profusely thanked Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim for releasing a special grant of Rs20 million for the board.

In a joint statement issued here on Wednesday, they said that the special grant had resolved the long-standing problems and resuscitated the board.

The office-bearers of the union also expressed their gratitude to the chairperson of the board, Dr Hameeda Khuhro, Education Secretary Mohammad Hashim Leghari and Special Secretary Abdul Qadir Mangi for their sincere efforts in getting the special grant sanctioned.

water supply: The director general, Hyderabad Development Authority, and EDO, Health, Hyderabad, in a joint statement issued here on Wednesday reassured the general public that the water released by the irrigation department and supplied by Wasa is fit for human consumption as per WHO standards.

They said that two water samples of raw water from upstream River Indus and filtered water from the outlets of Wasa were tested and their results as per WHO guidelines showed that the water was fit for human consumption.

They said that the total dissolved salts of raw water and filtered water showed 381mg per litre and 388mg per litre respectively against the WHO standards of 500mg per litre. The pH value of raw water, according to the tests, was recorded at 7.95 and of filtered water at 7.80 against the WHO standard of 6.50 to 8.50.

CORPS COMMANDER: The Corps Commander, Sindh, Lieutenant Gen Syed Athar Ali on Wednesday visited the under-construction RBOD project and attended a briefing which was given by senior officers of related departments.

According to a press release of the ISPR, the corps commander also inspected the on-going work near Sehwan and Thori.

The mega-project of the RBOD aims at draining out the saline water of the areas located on the right bank of the River Indus directly into the sea.

The excavation of Sim Nullah of this project is in progress. It starts from Sehwan and after passing through Jamshoro, Kotri and Thatta discharges the saline water into the sea near Gharo Creek.

In addition to protecting the land on the right side of the River Indus from water logging and salinity, it will also protect the Indus River and Manchhar Lake from contamination.

The construction of a big nullah — RBOD-II — is under way. It will be 273 kilometres long and will be designed to carry 2,000 cusecs of water.