Rest in sewage water?

Text and photos by Amar Guriro

Sewage water, leaking from the main nullah that flows just beside the Shahrah-e-Faisal, has inundated the eastern side of the historical Christian cemetery, the
Gora Qabristan.

The sewage water is pouring in the graveyard through a large outlet from the eastern corner just opposite the Aisha Bhawani School. Several Victorian-era gravestones have submerged under the filthy water.

Despite the passage of three days, the Sindh and city governments or the cantonment board have made no effort to pump out the water.

The leakage of sewage water into the Gora Qabristan and stagnant rainwater have been a predicament for the historical cemetery for several years and caused heavy damage to the graves.

Though the written history of this cemetery is not available that could reveal the exact year of its establishment, but a tombstone set near the main gate in memory of an 18-year-old girl, Maria Cotton, the daughter of Lieut Colonel Cotton HM 28 Regiment, who died on October 13, 1843 shows that the cemetery was established somewhere around that time.

Located in Abyssinia Lines, just beside Bazarta Line, the graveyard has been in a state of neglect since many years.

The compound wall from the eastern side has broken down at several places allowing stray animals to roam freely in the graveyard.

Wild grass has grown all over the graveyard owing to stagnant water. Sometimes, the children of the neighboring settlements of Bazarta Line set the grass on fire, cuasing damage to the graves. Many visitors are also unable to visit certain areas of the graveyard due to the water.

The caretaker of the graveyard told this scribe that the water has damaged several graves, majority of them dating back to the colonial era.

He said occasionally, Christians collect donations to buy fuel for the water suction pump to drain out sewage water, but are unable to continue doing this. “The government has done nothing in this regard,” he said.

Christians are the second biggest religious minority in Sindh after Hindus, majority of them living in Karachi and Gora Qabristan is their largest cemetery.

When this scribe contacted Saddar Town Nazim Muhammad Dilawar for his statement over the issue, he was not available, but his personal assistant advocate Nizamuddin said the Gora Qabristan does not lie under the control of town administration and therefore it has nothing to do with the matter.

“It is under the control of the cantonment board,” he said. When pointed out that the sewage water that has damaged the graveyard comes from areas such as Bazarta Line, which are under the control of the Saddar Town Administration, he refuted this claim.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Daily Times

Mysterious disease strikes coastal areas of Sindh

By Amar Guriro

A strange disease has spread in the coastal belt of Karachi paralysing the lower limbs and some times the arms and other body parts of the victims, the majority of the victims are children.

Earlier, there was an outbreak of a similar disease in Achhro Thar (White Desert) of district Sanghar and other areas of the Tharparkar desert. Now this disease has taken its toll in the Rehri Myan Goth in Bin Qasim Town. Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum (PFF)’s office bearers claim that there are about 200 victims, most of them children.

The residents of the area told this scribe that the victims of the disease are first afflicted with fever for a few days and then their lower limbs and sometimes the arms and other body parts are completely paralysed.

Though this disease remains unidentified, geologists contend that it is caused due to the consumption of fluoride-contaminated underground water. Experts have also expressed fear that the disease could engulf the entire coast of Sindh.

The victims mostly blood-related, and in some cases, there are around six patients in the same family.

Muhammad Hussain, a resident of Rehri village, is a fisherman who has braved many cyclones in the Arabian Sea during his fishing voyages, but is completely helpless to do anything for his four children, who have been paralysed. His three sons, Nazir, Dilbar and Mubarak, and a daughter Hajira, were normal, but they suddenly feel victim to the disease.

“My first child developed a fever one day and within a week, he was paralysed,” he said narrating his woes. “First we thought it’s weakness due to the fever, but later we realised his lower limbs were paralysed.”

He took his children to several doctors and also sought the help of faith healers, but all went in vein. Sami Memon of the PFF said his organisation has compiled a list of the victims’ names and most of them are children. “We have a list of about 173 children affected by this disease, but there are several other victims whose names we could not collect,” he said.

According to the PFF list, some of the victims include fisherman Esa, who is suffering the same ailments following the paralysis of his four daughters Fatima, Sheraan, Bhaan and Ameer Bano; Aamnat, daughter of Ismail; Hyder Ali, son of Allah Dino; Ibrahim, son of Mehmood; Hussain, son of Hassan Ali; Nazia, daughter of Ali Hussain, Mohammad Noor’s son Moosa and daughters Hawa and Nadia; Hakeem, son of Abdullah; Azam, son of Umar; Usman, son of Ismail, and Abdul Hussain, son of Ahmed Ali.

When this scribe contacted Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed for his comments on this issue, he was not available, however his PRO said the issue does not come under the jurisdiction of the provincial health department, and the CDGK EDO (health) might be the right man to contact.

When this scribe asked him how this matter that concerns the lives of so many children does not come under the jurisdiction of the Sindh government, he suggested contacting the provincial health secretary.

But that proved to be anything but useful as Sindh Health Secretary Hashim Raza Zaidi simply refused to comment on the issue. This wasn’t surprising since the health department avoiding talking to media personnel over such issues has become a routine practice.

CDGK Health Group of Offices Executive District Officer Attur Das Sanjnani claimed that the issue was nothing more than media-created hype. “There are just four children of a family residing in Ibrahim Hyderi whose lower limbs have been paralysed,” he said.

“We have conducted a complete survey of these areas and found that the disease is hereditary and for such diseases, there is no treatment even in advanced countries.”

The residents of the area told this scribe that since the creation of Pakistan, the people living in the coastal belt of the city are yet to receive basic facilities such as healthcare, educational institutes and above all drinking water supply schemes.

“Most of the residents of Ibrahim Hyderi, Rehri Goth and others areas of the coastal belt of the city are consuming the underground water, but no one knows about the quality of this water,” said PFF’s Sami Memon.

“It could possibly be the increasing level of fluoride in the underground water that has caused this mysterious disease,” said renowned geologist and faculty member of the Department of Geology, University of Karachi, Prof Dr Shahid Naseem. Dr Naseem has visited about 400 small villages of district Umerkot and other parts of Tharparkar to acquire water samples for laboratory testing.

According to his findings, the underground water had high levels of fluoride. Earlier, this scribe reported the outbreak of a similar disease in Achhro Thar in district Sanghar where around 17 people had dead in only one village and several others were paralysed.

“The disease has not only spread in Karachi, but perhaps spread along the entire coast of the province and also in Balochistan up to Iran, as we have received reports of the same disease affecting people in Quetta and a small village on the Iranian border,” Dr Naseem said.

“We have to conduct a detailed survey of the coastline to learn more about this disease.” Dr Naseem said arsenic contamination was first reported in Punjab, but now the problem has moved on to Sindh. “The contamination of underground water with both arsenic and fluoride could possibly be the cause of this disease, but only a detailed survey can confirm this,” he said.

Saturday, December 05, 2009

Daily Times

Follow Up

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Success Story

Standing still

Text and photos by Amar Guriro

No one can feel the pain of a fisherman who realises that the vast wetland or natural lake that had served as the only source of livelihood for him and his forefathers will soon be no more.

The pain was evident in the eyes of Ghulam Nabi Mallah, who was sitting in his Batilo, a small traditional wooden boat and idly playing with the wooden oars. The resounding silence of the 18-year-old, who has aged much more than his age due to the contaminated water he and the area residents have to rely on for survival, speaks volume about their desperation.

Mallah’s small boat was anchored on the edge of the vast and unique wetland of the province, the Kalankar or Kalangar Lake. According to the locals, the lake is spread over seven different zones, which comes to around 20 km. The lake is situated in the matchless White Desert or Achhro Thar in district Umerkot (formerly known as Amarkot district).

The beauty of the desert even took us by surprise. When we set off from the historical town of Dhoronaro, the image in our minds was that of a small, simple lake with a few small boats anchored. However, all the fatigue of the hour-long drive through the desert went out the window as we reached Goth Bachal Mallah and right after crossing the small village, the wonderland.

The vast body of blue water between the sand dunes and the resultant cool breeze were shocking to say the least. The water was calm and the area was wrapped in a mysterious silence, as if mourning the worsening situation. Dispersed all around the lake were small villages with traditional Thari huts, locally known as Chawanra.

Achhro Thar or White Desert is Pakistan’s strangest desert and is spread along the eastern boundaries of Sindh, along with the Indian border. There are several wetlands throughout the desert, most of which remain undiscovered.

The known ones include the Bakaar, located near Khipro district of Sanghar and commonly known as Khipro lakes, and the lakes in district Umerkot, which include the Kalankar, Seeroi, Burthi, Bodarr, Daisaen, Paalaaro, Modakar and several other small lakes.

Out of these, several have the potential to be protected under the Ramsar Convention.
However, nothing is being done at the official level, with the lake not even having been studied in detail. These wetlands have the potential of being wonderful tourist spots or game sanctuaries but the concerned authorities seem oblivious.

“The lake has become, more or less, useless, as there are no fish remaining and without fish, any water body for us is dead,” said Mallah. He lives in a small nearby village that was home to about 200 fishing families in the past but most of the residents have moved to other places as the water contamination levels surged.

The reason for this contamination is the fact that fresh water has not been introduced in the lake over the past ten years. Although, the Sindh Irrigation Department had established a minor canal from the Nara Canal to supply fresh water to the lake, over the past decade, some influential landlords and political personalities, a few of whom even belonged to the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, have been siphoning the water for their own land.

“This lake was our source of drinking water but, now, due to the lack of freshwater, the water has become so stagnant that even the fish are unable to survive,” said an elderly fisherman, Khano.

The federal government is celebrating the current year as the national year of environment but it seems that it is merely a media campaign, as no practical steps are being taken.

Quoting official data, Ideal Rural Development Program (IRDP) Secretary Imtiaz Laghari said that due to the rampant environmental degradation, the environment debt has risen to Rs 1 billion per day, which comes to Rs 365 billion per year.
He said these wetlands have long remained undiscovered, even at the government level, and called for a detailed official survey to be carried out as soon as possible.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Small Grants Program National Coordinator Masood Ahmed Lohar said that Pakistan is a signatory of different international conventions including United Nations Conventions to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), biodiversity conservation convention and climate change and eco-region preservation conventions, therefore, it needs to realise that the maintenance of these wetlands is essential for the conservation of the entire eco-region.

The wetlands are not only important for the general ecology but several traditional ritual and social norms of the indigenous fishermen are also entirely dependent on these water bodies. In the past, the fishermen of the area arranged annual melas, where special markets were set up providing toys for children, cosmetics for fisherwomen and fishing tools for men, along with special folk music shows.

These melas provided a chance of recreation to the entire community but since the stagnation of the water and the resultant decrease in fish catch, even such social gatherings have become a distant prospect.

Friday, February 06, 2009
Daily Times

Lower Sindh faces health hazards

By Amar Guriro

The discharge of heavily contaminated domestic and industrial waste into Phuleli Canal in Hyderabad continues unabatedly and no relevant authority has taken notice of the grave threat this situation poses.

A large portion of the province, particularly the lower Sindh, has brackish and saline underground water due to the influence of the sea and water shortage in the Indus River.

Phuleli Canal is one of the important canals of River Indus that provides potable water to more than three million human population of three major districts in lower Sindh along with the Akram Wah (also known as Lined Channel).

During a recent visit to the canal, this scribe found several illegal outlets pouring sewerage water into it. Since there is no restriction whatsoever regarding the disposal of waste in these canals, there are dozens of drainage outlets from the entire Hyderabad city.

The discharging of untreated sewage, garbage, industrial waste, effluent from laundry factories, cattle excreta from hundreds of cattle farms established on the banks of the canal, and waste products from hospitals and slaughterhouses into the an area over 20-km of Phuleli Canal and partly into the Lined Channel.

According to Badin Development and Research Organisation (BDRO), an organisation working on water contamination, all the hospital waste from Hyderabad city’s 40 main sewer nullahs.

Beside that there are effluents from 1,000 big laundries, effluent from 500 cattle farms situated on both sides of the canal, toxic waste from 12 plastic factories and domestic sewage. These all sources of pollution are located in Tando Muhammad Khan, Matli and Talhar towns is poured into Phuleli Canal.

“The heavily contaminated sewage and garbage, toxic chemicals, dyes and other heavy metals in the industrial effluents as well as wastes from slaughterhouses and animal excretions have converted these water bodies into poisonous canals,” said BDRO’s Muhammad Khan Samoo.

His organisation, BDRO has recently conducted a laboratory test after taking several water samples from Phuleli Canal and found that the water is highly toxic and not safe for human consumption.

“The recent results of the water samples show that contaminated water is causing abdominal diseases in resident of cities and towns carrying potable water from Phuleli Canal,” said Samoo.

On the other hand, District Nazim Hyderabad Kanwar Naveed Jamil justified the pouring of highly contaminated industrial and domestic waste from Hyderabad city.
“It is not new phenomenon and has been going on since 1947. I am not responsible for the industrial waste in Phuleli Canal and you should ask the people from the related department,” said Nazim.

He added that his government has recently started treatment plants so that sewerage water can be treated and then poured into the canal. “Though Hyderabad is not taking a single bucket of water from this canal but we have planned three major treatment plants for the lower districts purely on humanitarian grounds,” he said while admitting that all the sewerage of Hyderabad city is being poured in the canals or in Indus River.

“I have no idea exactly how much sewerage water is produced daily in the city, as some portion of it is poured in canals and other portions are either poured in Indus River or used for agricultural purposes,” he said.

He maintained that the district governments of district Tando Muhammad Khan and Badin are responsible to arrange the treatment plants for the sewerage water of Hyderabad that is being poured into the Phuleli Canal as they are taking potable water from it.

The federal and provincial government must take serious notice of the activities, which are causing water contamination and must come forward to save the people living in the lower districts of Sindh.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Daily Times

Thirsty monkeys of the city

By Amar Guriro
Photo by Athar Hussain

While standing at a signal, waiting impatiently for the light to turn green, a monkey might have added to your agitation by sitting on your car bonnet or knocking on your window.

You would have ignored him, rudely brushed him off or abused him, depending on how far up your agitation was on the scale. But have you ever seen or even wondered where the juggler and his monkey live?

These jugglers live in Bandar Basti (Monkey Colony), a small slum settlement just behind the PIDC landmark plaza near Hijrat Colony in Sultanabad.

Only a few people are aware of the fact that just opposite the main gate of the Sindh Chief Minister’s House, the most important area of the city with all the five-star hotels and the railway track, this small unique monkey colony exists.

It is a gypsy colony and was established a long time ago. The colony is very strange, as it is named Bandar Basti because dozens of monkeys can be seen tied to a pole of the makeshift huts and tents that the gypsies live in.

When entering the colony, gypsy children gather around to welcome you and the women are seen trying their best to forcefully bathe naked children between the old railway tracks.

The male members of the colony listen to legendary Saraiki classical folk singer Pathaney Khan on the stereo while the monkeys take a nap in the tents.

Comprising of over 200 small huts and having a population of 1,800, the colony has no water supply connection and the residents have to beg for water from various nearby slums. The acute water shortage has not only affected the residents of this unique settlement, but even monkeys are suffering from this predicament.

The gypsy residents of the colony, working as jugglers with their monkeys, told this scribe that several monkeys died after consuming contaminated water.

“There is no water line in the area and we beg for water from different slums, but since they are also pumping water and consuming electricity to do so, they have stopped giving us water,” said Zulekha, a gypsy woman. She added that the residents have found a way to collect seepage water from the main water supply line passing beside the colony.

“We don’t know about the quality of the water and we believe that we are gypsies and contamination will do nothing to us, but it is affecting the monkeys,” said another gypsy woman.

The residents of this colony are not permanent residents and are also not from any particular place. There are some families who come from Sukkur, Sanghar, Nawabshah, Hyderabad and other cities of Sindh, whereas some have travelled from Rahimyar Khan, Rajanpur, Mithankot and even Rohi, the land of the legendary Saraiki poet Baba Fareed in southern Punjab.

But being gypsies has tied them into living together. The women sell toys and bangles whereas the male members take moneys to juggle on the main roundabouts and markets of the city.

In absence of a proper sanitation system, the residents have discovered a small pond inside the big sewerage nullah where seepage from a potable water line has gathered. Thus, they get water from there for their daily use. To beat the heat in the summers, most of the residents rush to the sewerage nullah and bathe in the small pond.

“We are gypsies and can live in any type of circumstances, we just need a public water lien from where we can get potable water, we need nothing else from the government,” said Sanwal, an elderly chieftain of the colony.

Officially, there are more than 400 registered slums in the city, where legally or illegally, people have an access to potable water, but authorities have never even peeped into the gypsy colonies to find out how these people are living.

Friday, May 08, 2009
Daily Times

‘Dirty business’ stalls potable water project

Text and photos by Amar Guriro

KARACHI: Camels grazing in the mangrove forest, small fishing boats anchored on shore and naked children playing with dead fish. This scene can be a great opening to a documentary however reality paints a different picture of it.

No one knows the decades of pain the residents of Kaka Pir Goth, a small fishing village near Hawksbay in the outskirts of the city, have suffered. The small village is one of the oldest seaside settlements of the city.
Driving speeding vehicles on broken roads in the humidity, the hurrying picnickers heading towards the huts spread along Hawksbay and Sandspit beaches have never bothered to stop at the village and ask how life is doing there.

Locals say that more than 100,000 picnickers cross the village on Sundays, but despite such a large number visiting the area, the miseries of the village have never made headlines.

Comprising of 127 households and having a population of 650, Kaka Pir is deprived of the basic amenity of potable water. The federal government laid down a pipeline in the area in the late 70s however, it was never made functional and during the last three decades, the villagers either buy potable water or bring it form far away places, hoping that one day they will get water from the government.
However, their dreams remain just dreams until, discovering their difficulties, a multinational paint manufacturing company financed a two kilometer long pipeline project to provide potable water to the village. The news spread like wildfire. However it didn’t take long for their dreams to be crushed as when some influential people of the area, who sold water to the villagers, got wind of the news, they forcibly halted the project.
The construction material for the project is lying idle in the heat. “After hearing the news, we thought that at last our miseries will end, but now it seems we have to suffer for another three decades for water,” said a village fisherwoman.

The village elders remember the winter morning in the late 70s when a team of five arrived and announced that the federal government has planned a water supply scheme for the village. “I remember the day when the team came to our village and we heard that the then Prime Minister Zulfqar Ali Bhutto ordered the provision of water.
The team came to survey the village before laying the pipeline,” said elderly Hashim, adding that the villagers were so happy that no one went fishing and remained in the village to celebrate the news.

After the team’s visit, labourers started digging in the village and the pipeline was laid. Though, the pipeline was installed, the residents of Kaka Pir Goth never received a drop of water. “The pipeline project was completed and then Bhutto was hanged, so authorities forgot to supply water to the pipeline,” said UC Councilor Abdul Ghani.

For the past three decades, water remains a precious commodity for the villagers. The village residents have several relatives in other coastal villages and none of them agree to wed their daughters to the people in this village because of the water problem. From this, one can gauge how the absence of potable water socially affects the people. The nearest place from where water can be bought is two kilometers away.

As the villagers have to go a long distance to fetch water, they consume it with caution and thus, many suffer from kidney related problems. During the visit, this scribe found several physically disabled people; anyone could have can guess that they might be victims of the lack of potable water.

The reason this scribe visited the village was because of the good news of water being supplied there, but the news became sour when the influential people practiced their influence.
The villagers were so afraid of the ‘influential’ that no one dared to name names. “We don’t want any conflict, we are thankful to the company who has came forward with the project and we request that the pipeline be completed so we can finally get potable water,” said a resident.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Daily Times

Oldest slum deprived of basic amenities

Text and photos by Amar Guriro

KARACHI: As the police and the media started pouring into the temple, a ray of hope beamed in Roopi’s eyes and she warmly greeted Adviser to Chief Minister Sharmila Farooqi in the temple courtyard.

Roopi and several other Waghri women, the residents of the oldest slum settlement of the city, Amar Colony, gathered in the temple to tell their miseries to Sharmila.

The colony is suffering from the absence of basic amenities including potable water, natural gas, electricity, healthcare and education. After discovering their condition, Adviser to CM Sharmila Farooqi invited the media to visit the colony on Saturday.

Sandwiched between more modern and well-equipped residences, the colony, comprising of 240 households, is located in the heart of the city in Chanisar Goth, UC-4 of Jamshed Town, however, it lacks even the basics of amenities.

“A proper sanitation system was discovered in the five thousand year old ruins of Moen-Jo-Daro; it is sad that in today’s modern world, we have no such facility,” said Babu Waghari, the only literate person of the colony. When he was telling the media the sad story of their colony, Roopi came forward.

Looking into her eyes, one can hardly see the decades of pain she has suffered. Heavy silver ornaments in her neck, traditional tattoos on her forehead, attired in a colorful lehanga, elderly Roopi is a symbol of poverty.

She belongs to the Waghari community, a tribe of gypsies that lived in the central Indian state of Maharashtra.
History reveals that the Wagharis were peasants residing on the edge of the Waghari River centuries before they migrated to Sindh after facing a drought and since then they have been living in Karachi.

“My grandmother used to tell me stories about how she and other women used to work as labourers when the angraiz (the British) were constructing a railway track; she told me she worked on the Chanisar Halt railway track and was given a small piece of land to live on. Ever since then, our generations have been residing on that piece of land,” Roopi recalled.

She also heard stories from her grandparents that in the olden days, there was no proper system for potable water in the city and people used to rely on underground water or used to wait for the train to bring sweet water to them.

“In those days the city was nothing but a thick forest; it has developed before our eyes and now we are being forced to wait even for potable water,” she said with grief. Roopi and the other women of the colony told Sharmila that they are in dire need of potable water supply connections, natural gas, cemented pavements, proper sanitation system and on the whole a renovation of the historical colony.

They demanded of Farooqui to vacate the land they use for their religious festivals that has been recently occupied. They informed her that in the colony, there are around 2,000 voters and they all are Jiyalas (hardcore PPP activists). Interestingly, PPP Karachi Division General Secretary Saeed Ghani is living in one street away from the colony.

“We have always supported and voted for PPP but we don’t know if he is living in this area,” said one resident.

Sharmila promised them that she will manage these facilities for them. “It is very shocking to find that the colony, which is in the heart of the city, is deprived of such basic amenities,” Sharmila said, adding that in the first phase she will manage a potable water connection for them.
Sunday, April 19, 2009

Daily Times