The leaders of Thar Technical Forum, a body comprising geologists, environmentalists, engineers and the experts of various fields, have asked the mining firms engaged in the coal mining in two different blocks at Thar Coalfields Fields near Islamkot town to fulfil their commitments made with the people of Tharparkar before undertaking extraction and other other projects to produce power.
Dayal Sehari, Atta Mohammad Rind, Hameer Khan Soomro, Suresh Samai, Moula Bux, Raja Guhar, Irfan Ali Rind and other leaders of the forum addressed the press conference in Islamkot Press Club and asked the executives of the firms to mend their ways and stop neglecting the talented youths from Tharparkar in their employment policies.
They made it clear that they formed the forum after the thorough consultation to peacefully protest against the unabated exploitation of the people by the greedy executives of the mining firms.
They said that the officials of the firms had formed a number of the fields and faculties for carrying out their projects but totally neglected the local educated and expert Tharis. “Two teams of geologists are formed by the officials of Block 1 to conduct the geological survey of the lands falling in the block but not a single local person has been hired and included” they added and said that similarly officials of the blocks had almost ignored the local people in other fields.”
As many as three hundred local youngsters from the desert district having the required technical skills have submitted their documents for the available jobs but all are not aware of the motives of the officials” they said. The leaders of the forum deplored the fact that not only executives of the firms were committing the blatant violations of their corporate responsibilities but were also bent upon to destroy the environment of the desert region by completing ignoring the various studies and their subsequent recommendations to maintain and balance the ecosystem of the vast area of Tharparkar district.
“The executives of different firms especially those of block 1 are only interested in the coal reserves but are least concerned about the mess being created in the area” they added and alleged that despite their frequent reminders to the officials with regard to their policies and plans nobody was there to brief those seeking the jobs and compensation of their lands and other properties.
They said that massive coal extraction of the coal reserves in various blocks had also caused the massive desertification but no corrective measures were being made by the officials to avoid further damage in the region by carrying out the tree plantation drives as had been strongly recommended by various organizations working on the environment of the region.
They alleged that officials in block 1 had never tried to come up with the plans and projects at the public forums to address and alley the fears and apprehensions of the affected people and those activists, who were peacefully agitating against such flawed policies and greedy moves by the officials of the mining firms.
They made it clear that they had never been against the progress and prosperity of the country by utilizing the coal of Thar but were worried about the future of the people of Thar and wanted the firms to comply with recommendations of the various agencies. “We request the officials of the companies to fulfill their promises and commitments made with the people, who have directly or indirectly affected due to mining” they said and vowed to resist all such moves aimed at destruction of the area. The leaders of the forum expressed their resentment and deep concerns over the reluctance of the executives and officials to acquire the canal water through the pipelines to cater to needs of the mega projects.”
The officials to save the money are only drawing underground water with the unscientific manners imperil the water resources of Tharparkar ” they added and said that such practices to use underground water of Thar would cause massive environmental, ecological disaster in most parts of Thar, as according to them, subsoil water from all three aquafires of the desert were fast depleting in the wake massive coal extraction and and the subsequent power generation.
They said that if the talented youths from Thar if not included in the various schemes the desert region instead of making any progress and prosperity would turn the region into the marshlands. They added it with concerns that despite the fact that Thar was going to produce around 3 thousand megawatts of electricity within the next few years, those taking the power of Thar were not providing the electricity to the people of Tharparkar.
“The entire Thar could easily be electrified by providing mere ten megawatts of power” they added and demanded the high-ups of both the Federal and Sindh government take their concerns seriously and sympathetically to allay their fears.
