THATTA, May 27: Activists of the People's Party Parliamentarians on Thursday took out a procession in Sujawal town and blocked the Thatta-Badin highway for about two hours to protest against the supply of contaminated water to the district.

The protesters were wearing black armbands and carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the supply of polluted water to the district. They marched on the main roads of the town.

Speaking on the occasion, Masood Mustafa, Mohsin Sindhi, Imtiaz Qureshi, Moosa Baran, Rafique Umrani and others demanded that the government should register cases against those who supplied contaminated water to the people for drinking.

They urged the district government to activate all the departments concerned particularly the health department to tackle the situation. They said that the PPP had launched a campaign to disseminate awareness about the hazards of polluted water.

They demanded that fresh water should be released for the district. Meanwhile, EDO health Dr Hafeez Memon at a press conference at the press club on Thursday advised that the people should consume boiled water to avoid stomach diseases in the district.

He said that a high alert had already been announced in hospitals.He said that some 897 diarrhoea cases were reported to government hospitals till May 26.

MPA: PPP MPA Sassui Palijo recorded her statement in the court of District and Sessions Judge here on Wednesday, in pursuance of her recent move against elected local body representatives and district bureaucrats for their involvement in supplying highly contaminated water, which resulted in five casualties and ailment to dozens of others in the district.

None of the elected representatives - the district nazim and eight taluka nazims - summoned by the court appeared. However representatives of the chief engineer of Kotri Barrage, EDO Health, and others appeared on their behalf.

Pleading her point of view before the District and Sessions Judge, Dr Qamaruddin Bohra, PPP MPA argued that a case of criminal negligence be registered against all the involved persons for the tragedy, including secretary irrigation, managing director WASA and others and compensation be paid to those who died after using the poisonous water, those who fell severely ill and those whose land lost its fertilities.