BAHAWALNAGAR - Vegetables over hundreds of acres of land are being grown with sewage being disposed of from a disposal station of TMA Bahawalnagar, putting the public at the potential risk of contracting contagious diseases, The Nation learnt on Thursday.

According to details, growers are using sewage being disposed of the TMA disposal at Munirabad, in the suburbs of the city, for irrigating vegetable crops. These "toxic" vegetables later make their way to the local markets. The common man buys these veggies, having no knowledge of the dangerous pathogens they carry after being grown in sewage.

This malpractice is going on under the nose of the Bahawalnagar TMA and negligence of the district administration.

According to health experts, the chemicals and other dangerous pathogens in the sewage transfer into vegetables, which not only destroy the nutrients and vitamins but also remain alive. These pathogens later cause various diseases in human body which is very evident from the diseases being on the rise in the society.

On the other hand, both the district administration and TMA are oblivious to the situation, although the malpractice is at a vast level and is continued since long.

Civil society representatives have expressed grave concern over the use of sewage for growing vegetables. They said that people are contracting serious diseases like hepatitis, gestro, diarrhoea and others but the district administration appears to be in deep slumber. They asked the district administration and the TMA to rise to the hazardous being posed to human health and check the malpractice completely. The public at large has demanded stern action all those persons involved the menace of growing vegetables with sewage.