THATTA, Oct 13 Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has imposed ban on transactions of all land held by public and private parties that fall within the limits of seven of nine talukas of the district. The ban will remain in force till the government finalises site for the proposed new metropolitan city Zulfikarabad, and acquires land for the purpose, according to sources.

The deputy secretary-II of the land utilisation department of the Board of Revenue Sindh has directed Thatta DCO Manzoor Shaikh to take possession of entire record of Thatta, Mirpur Sakro, Ghorabari, Jati, Keti Bandar, Kharochhan and Mirpur Bathoro talukas and keep it in safe custody.

On Thursday, the senior member of the Board of Revenue Sindh Ghulam Ali Pasha convened a meeting of EDO of revenue and other officials of Thatta district to deliberate on the status of land available in these talukas and submit details about fraudulent transactions, transfers as well as disputed lands and lands in litigation in the talukas.

At a recent meeting with revenue officials in Thatta, Sindh Minister for Revenue Jam Mehtab Dahar took notice of fraudulent transactions, fictitious and fabricated khatas (records of rights) and un-surveyed dehs in Mirpur Sakro and Kohistan 7/6 and sought a detailed report to help reverse the entries and change status of such land in favour of the state.

These seven talukas comprise 556 dehs and 48 union councils.

Despite protests by leaders of some nationalist parties against the new city the mega project offers a ray of hope for a majority of poor people of the district, who have time and again faced natural disasters.

Since 1999, the district has braved four disasters, a cyclone in 1999, drought in 2000, earthquake in 2001 and drought and floods in 2003, which severely harmed livelihoods, especially those of low income and vulnerable groups.

MINISTER Sindh Minster for Cooperation Abdul Jalil Memon said that Kohistan had huge potential for wind power generation and hoped wind turbines would provide long awaited power to villages in the neglected area.

Speaking at an inauguration ceremony of wind turbine near Jhampir installed by the Global Development and Welfare Organisation in collaboration with the Indus for All Programme of WWF, the minister said that the country was facing worst energy crisis and the government had initiated numerous initiatives to bring it under control.

He urged people to ensure the turbine was maintained on a regular basis so that they could run for longer period.

He announced construction of Thatta-Jhampir road and lauded efforts of the WWF for conservation of Keenjhar Lake and providing alternate livelihood to people.

The programme coordinator of the Indus for All Programme WWF, Nasir Ali Panhwar, said that communities living near Keenjhar Lake were directly dependent on natural resources and it was imperative that they should be provided alternate sources of livelihood to reduce pressure on fast depleting natural resources.