Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho on Tuesday apprised the Sindh Assembly about the deaths from Congo virus, saying that 33 cases have emerged in the metropolis so far.

On a private members day, she was giving a statement in response to PTI MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman Khan's adjournment motion that there are 31 cases reported about Congo virus patients while 33 have emerged in the city so far. The motion claimed that Congo virus has killed 10 people in the city while overall 39 cases have been reported.

Dr Azra said the sacrificial animals that are brought to the city on Eid-ul-Azha are also one of the reasons for the spread of the virus. She pointed out that animals coming to Sindh from Balochistan carry the virus. "Sprays are done in animals markets and slaughterhouses but somewhere negligence does occur which spreads the virus," she said, adding that fumigation should be carried out in farm houses.

He urged the Sindh Livestock Department to step up to overcome the virus spread. Latter, debate on the motion was deferred until next Monday. A resolution, which PTI's Bilal Ghafar had tabled, was about heaps of garbage in the city. The mover said the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board failed to remove garbage. Khurrum Sher Zaman Khan criticized the Sindh government for failing to evolve a system for lifting garbage effectively from the city.

Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani said lifting garbage is not the responsibility of Sindh Solid Waste Management Board while Chinese companies were supposed to collect garbage from door to door. He said the payments to the companies were stopped for poor performance. "The way we wanted to clean the city could not do as there are several reasons behind," he said, adding that KMC in recent cleanliness drive removed the garbage backlog and ruble. Latter, the resolution was unanimously adopted.

PPP legislator Riaz Hussain Shah Sheerazi on a call attention notice drew the Sindh government's attention towards a proposed barrage on River Indus some 40 kilometers off the shoreline. He said location of the barrage threatens villages within the 40 kilometers of radius of the barrage with inundating them from storm water. He proposed the barrage should be constructed near the coastline instead. The house was put off till Friday afternoon at 2:30pm.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019