THATTA, Aug 14: Villagers, mostly fishermen, living near the Keenjhar Lake fear the Rs3.2 billion project for raising the lake’s banks to increase its storage capacity will cause inundation of 24 villages.

They complained that a law enforcing agency, which was running tourist huts near the lake on commercial basis and also use Gadah Bhiri island, was stopping their women from fetching water and doing other domestic chores near the lake.

They told journalists who paid a visit to the lake sponsored by Actionaid, an NGO, in collaboration with another local NGO, the Keenjhar Fishermen Welfare Association (KFWA) that they had serious reservations over the project.

“We are settled here for centuries, yet we live in abject poverty as our villages lack infrastructure like roads, hospitals and drinking water facility. At least the KWSB should give us jobs,” the chairman of KFWA, Mohammad Adam Gandhro, implored. He said that the project titled “Assuring Water Supply to Karachi”, which included raising banks, re-modelling Kalri Baghar (KB) Feeder, constructing a spillway and metalled roads on the banks, would badly affect 24 villages including 14 of fishermen and 10 of other communities.

“These villages will either be submerged or their land will be acquired when the banks’ height is raised and widened,” he feared. About 50,000 fishermen and 11,000 acres of agricultural land in the union council of Sonda and UC Jhampir would be hit by salinity after the lake’s storage capacity had been raised, he said. The fishermen argued that they had been granted fishing rights in the lake by Jam Tamachi, a 14th century Sindh ruler, and continued to enjoy the rights uninterrupted before the present day governments introduced contract system. The contract system, however, had now been replaced by licensing system, he said.

Mr Gandhro said that a 2005-06 survey put the fishermen’s population at 10,320 with 820 boats and annual production of fish at 15,650 tons, in stark contrast to 1989-90 survey, which put their population at 24,355 with 2,200 boats after many had to migrate to Punjab, Baluchistan and Afghanistan due to decline fish catch.He blamed the construction of link canal in 1973 for drop in fish catch. The canal supplies water to five talukas of Thatta between June and August, which is breeding season of fish and during the course of which the lake does not receive water inflows through KB Feeder, he said adding that the lake’s inlets and outlets had no nets to stop fish seed from slipping out.

Gaddah Bhiri, a small island, was in use of a law enforcing agency which was running four huts in Abdullah Gandro village, Mr Adam said and added that the agency personnel prevent their women from fetching water and carry on other domestic chores on the lake’s banks. They had also blocked the villagers’ passage to the lake, he said.

“One day the agency personnel beat a villager when he objected to their movement in the village. We are sensitive about our culture and do not let anybody trample over the sanctity of our homes,” said a fisherman. Such scuffles happen more often. “They deny our women access to the lake for fetching water,” he complained.

A personnel of the said agency denied the villagers’ charges and said they had separate route for approaching the road and had their own boats to take tourists to Gaddah Bhiri islands.

The chief engineer of Kotri Barrage, Manzoor Sheikh, said that the construction of spillway would ensure that excess water flowed back to the River Indus. “The question of inundation of villages simply doesn't arise because the project will not require more land,” he claimed.

The banks would be raised by three feet with a free board of a foot to increase overall storage capacity to 0.9 MAF (million acre feet) from 0.8 MAF and the lake's level to 57RL (reduced level) from existing 54RL, he said.

According to the managing director of KWSB, the board did not sell water to anyone. Instead, it had to spend Rs3 billion on electricity to ensure water was supplied to Karachi from the lake, he said.