MITHI: The Sindh government’s vacillation on the issuance of permits for mining and quarrying for granite at picturesque Karoonjhar Hills sparked protests in a number of towns on Tuesday as the Mines and Minerals Development Depart-ment withdrew the second ‘open auction’ for the grant of mining permits in Nagarparkar within a week.

The department had earlier cancelled a public auction on July 25 under public pressure but reissued the auction notice to be held on Aug 1 for ‘small scale’ mining permits across Sindh and rescheduled it later for Aug 4. The auction was, however, cancelled again on Tuesday over public outcry.

A large number of people from across Thar gathered in the hilly town of Nagarparkar to participate in a protest organised by Awami Tehreek against repeated attempts by the Sindh government functionaries to auction off 5,000 acres in Parkar region for extraction of granite.

The protesters marched on different thoroughfares before staging a demonstration at Miskeen Jahan Khan Khoso roundabout. They demanded complete ban on the extraction of granite and gravel at all 108 points across the region.

Lal Jarwar, president of Awami Tehreek, spoke to the charged crowd and said that high functionaries were adding insult to the injury by issuing the auction notices for defacing the beautiful Karoo-njhar Hills.

“Despite cancellation for the time being of the auction notice the shadow of illegal mining still looms large over the hills,” he said, adding illegal miners posed a constant threat to environment and local communities.

He warned that his party would never allow rulers to defile the hills and fight for them at every available forum including courts. “We have launched the decisive movement to warn Pakistan Peoples Party rulers against dreaming of auctioning off Sindh’s resources,” he said.

He said that if PPP was really sincere to preserve the hills it should table a bill in Sindh Assembly and officially declare the hills and all such sites as national heritage besides writing to international forums to grant status of world heritage site to the hills.

Advocate Vasand Thari, the party’s Thar chapter leader, said the cancellation of the auction should serve as a clear message that the sentiments of people and the preservation of natural resources were most important.

The party’s senior leader Abdul Qadir Ranto said the rulers were only interested in minting money by selling out all natural resources but they would never allow them to go ahead with their greedy plans.

“A two-pronged strategy is necessary to fully protect the hills. First, the government must step up efforts to crack down on illegal mining, secondly, it should invest in sustainable development initiatives for the region,” said Noor Ahmed Katiar, the party’s general secretary.

Meanwhile, a similar protest was staged in Diplo town.

HYDERABAD: Acti-vists of Sindh Sabah staged a demonstration outside local press club against auction of Karoon-jhar Hills. They said the PPP government had turned completely blind in its lust for power. Zardari mafia was bent on selling away everything for money, they said.

Second open auction cancelled

The Directorate of Mines and Minerals Department has cancelled open auction for grant of ‘small scale’ mining/mining permits for lake salt, granite, china clay, marble, gravel and other minerals across the province.

The letter issued by the director general and tweeted by Sindh Minister for Mines and Minerals Mir Shabbir Ali Bijrani stated that the auction which was scheduled to be held on Aug 1 and later rescheduled for Aug 4 and the public notice for the same had been cancelled with immediate effect.

Published in Dawn, Aug 2nd, 2023