The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2016.
KARACHI: The Sindh government and Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company’s (SECMC) plan to construct a dam on agricultural land drove residents of Ghorani village in Islamkot Tehsil to tears on Monday.
Protesters such as Sita Bai pleaded to the government not to take away their livelihoods during a demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club. She said that she and her fellow villagers had been on the road, fighting for their rights for 17 consecutive days.
Leela Ram and Ravi Shankar, who have been leading the protest in Islamkot and Karachi, told The Express Tribune, “We don’t have any political agenda, rather it’s a question of our children and that our coming generations are going to be affected by this toxic water dam.”
Ram explained that the toxic water from the Thar coalfields will be amassed in the dam being built by the government on private and cultivable landholdings rather than on deserted ones in the same area.
The resident alleged that the proposed 2,700-acre dam will harm their pattern of living and damage the local ecosystem of the area.
According to other protesters, who were shouting slogans, the toxic water dam being constructed in Thar Block-II by SECMC is a grave injustice to the people of the area.
Fifteen villages with a population of 15,000 people will be affected by the construction of the dam, as the area of some of the villages will be submerged once the dam is constructed while others will have to deal with seepage, claimed the villagers. Agricultural land and around 20,000 livestock will also suffer.
They asserted that unlike most villages in Tharparkar desert, theirs is rich, with about 200,000 trees, 20 potable water wells, natural ponds and five historical graveyards – all of which will be affected by the dam.
Junaid Kumar said that their elected representatives do not care about their plight or their future. “This is the first time we celebrated Diwali while protesting on the road,” he lamented.
Another protester, Lakho Bheel, said they do not want to halt construction of the damn but they are demanding the authorities change the location of the dam to an area where there is no cultivatable land or population.
“We are patriotic and must not be considered to be against the development of our area by coal exploration,” maintained Shankar. He added that his people were certainly not against the prosperity of the area.
He demanded the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the chief minister of Sindh and the chairperson of Pakistan Peoples Party to take notice of the dam. Otherwise, he warned, they will continue to protest indefinitely.
The SECMC, a joint venture of the Sindh government and Engro Powergen Limited, plans to produce 3,960 megawatts (MW) of electricity through four 330MW and four 660MW plants.