Karachi: Fertilizer factory pouring deadly wastes in waterways

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Amar Guriro
KARACHI: The administration of a private fertiliser factory located on the outskirts of the city has not stopped pouring highly toxic industrial effluent into a natural stream despite the passage of a year.

On January 22, 2008, around 43 animals including goats, cows and sheep owned by natives of nearby villages died after drinking the water from the stream. The animals were worth around Rs 1 million.

This scribe covered the environmental disasters a year ago and after the passage of a year, this scribe went back to get updates on any changes made to prevent the disaster from occurring again.

Reaching Goth Sodho Kalmati, the villagers warmly welcomed us in the traditional Sindhi way and brought colorful Rili (cultural mats) for us to sit on. “Nothing has changed since last year and the entire situation is the same,” said elderly Raza Muhammad Kalmati. He recited some verses of the poetry of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai that explained the pains of the villagers.

Wearing a traditional Sindhi cap, white-bearded Raza was digging the soil with a small piece of wood, contemplating his village’s tragedy. In his village, almost all the villagers have learnt Bhittai’s poetry by heart, showing their love for culture. Raza was one of the 20 villagers of his area whose animals died after consuming the contaminated water.

“For you, it could be only an animal but ask those who keep the animals. An animal is like a family member and dreams are tied with it,” said Sain Dad Kalmati of Goth Saleh Muhammad. By buying a cow, Sain Dad had also bought dreams, he thought that next year he would sell the cow and with the money he would arrange a dowry for his daughter. With the death of the cow, his dreams also died.

At the government level, a survey ascertaining the effects of the highly contaminated industrial waste on the general environment, wildlife, livestock and human population in the metropolis has yet to be conducted. Last year, after such an environmental disaster, the Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) had conducted a survey to find the losses but despite one year, nothing has been done. “I really don’t know details about the issue as I have recently been appointed to this post, I will only be able to comment after going through the details,” said newly appointed SEPA Director Shakeel Hashmi.

The ground position of the stream where such a large number of animals died last year after consuming contaminated water is still the same. Nothing has changed and the factory authorities have not even bothered to put any fence on the stream. One can see that the stream is contaminated. The colour of the flowing water from the drains, the fact there is no green plants and that most of the soil on the bed of the stream has become white with the high level of chemicals, all show that the water is dangerous and not potable.

The factory administration has only erected a small signboard reading in Sindhi, ‘Beware, the water is not for drinking.’ A villager, Sallah Muhammad, joked about the sign, “Our goats and cows are illiterate and cannot read the board,” he said. The villagers pointed out a big pipe carrying industrial effluent from the factory that opens in Majnu Shah Dhori.

Majnu Shah Dhori emerges from the nearby hills locally known as the Khatyani range located on the right of the main Karachi-Thatta National Highway near Ghagghar Phattak. It runs down into the Indus River that then merges into the Arabian Sea about 16 kilometers later. Apart from the major fertiliser factory, there are several small industries in the area and almost all of them pour contaminated water into the stream, turning it into a small drain. However, no one can calculate the losses such high level industrial chemicals and industrial waste do to the ecosystem and to the biodiversity of the Indus River and the Arabian Sea.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...09_pg12_10