HYDERABAD, May 23: A People's Party Parliamentarians MNA from Kotri has held the Sindh irrigation secretary responsible for the deaths caused by polluted Indus water in Hyderabad, Kotri and other areas .

In a statement faxed to Dawn here on Sunday, the MNA, Abdul Ghani Talpur said that he had personally informed irrigation secretary Bashir Ahmed Dahar of poisonous water of the Manchhar lake but he released the water in the River Indus which resulted in the death of many people and hospitalization of hundreds more.

He said that during his visit to Bubak town a few days back, Save Manchhar Lake Committee president Mohammad Umer told him that people were dying due to consumption of contaminated water. The MNA added that Mr Umer showed him a glass of water which, according to him, was unsafe even for animal consumption.

Later, Mr Talpur with MNA Qadir Jafar visited the irrigation secretary at his office in Karachi and told him about the dangerous situation, he said, adding that the secretary insisted that the water was not contaminated but safe.

He said that people of Kotri and Sehwan were looking towards President Gen Pervez Musharraf for justice. He demanded that the Supreme Court should hold an inquiry into the matter to fix responsibility for supply of the toxic water and the deaths that occurred because of it.

Mr Talpur also demanded that adequate funds should be allocated in the budget to implement schemes, sanctioned by the PPP government, for preservation of the Manchhar Lake.

EDHI CAMP: Forty patients suffering from abdominal diseases visited the Edhi Hospital at Makrani Para here on Sunday, out of whom 16 were admitted. Rizwan Edhi from Karachi has set up a camp at the Edhi centre where ample quantity of medicines has been provided to treat such ailments.

Meanwhile, fresh water situation at Kotri upstream has improved slightly. When contacted over the telephone, Kotri Barrage authorities told Dawn that upstream water supply was recorded at 4,675 cusecs by 6pm.