HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad circuit on Thursday ordered the committee notified by the provincial government under the Dec 6, 2016 SHC order to submit its report regarding construction of a saline water reservoir at Gorano village in Tharparkar within two months. It adjourned the matter to be fixed after the given period of time.

According to the terms of reference (ToRs) of the committee, “the committee shall examine environmental impact assessment (EIA) and addendum as well as other relevant research work carried out on the project as a whole; to examine effects of ponds over wildlife and environment, effluent water which is to be stored, should be in a manner thereby assuring local persons protected from any hazardous effects or consequences; to examine the distance between pond and village Gorano as well as Dhukhurchho as well as villages and population of that area”.

Petitioners Mr Lakho and others had challenged the construction of the reservoir under the Thar coal project pleading that it would affect 15,000 people of around a dozen villages as well as their livestock besides destroying 2,700 acres of agricultural land and a graveyard.

Additional Advocate-General Allah Bachayo Soomro submitted in court the Jan 18 notification regarding appointment of the four-member committee.

The committee is headed by the Sindh Civil Services Academy director general with other members being former secretaries Shamsul Haq Memon and Fazalullah Qureshi, and Mohammad Ahsan Siddiqui, a water technologist. Respondent Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company, which is constructing the reservoir under its coal project, pleaded in court through its counsel, Mayhar Kazi, that the court should first decide the point of maintainability of the case.

The counsel argued that there was a factual controversy in the petition and petitioners did not have any locus standi; they did not own the land in that area for which a report of mukhtiarkar was also filed.

Advocates Ayatullah Khowaja and Sajjad Chandio, representing the petitioners, argued that the committee was formed only yesterday (Jan 18) though an order to this effect was issued on Dec 6, 2016.

They informed the court that the EIA was not conducted for the proposed reservoir.

Continuing their protest for the 91st day outside the Islamkot Press Club on Thursday, residents of Gorano village along with those of several other vulnerable villages observed a token hunger strike, a correspondent in Mithi adds.

Advocate Leela Ram and other prominent figures of the villages told the media that the provincial government was least bothered about the fate of thousands of people and their livestock, which would suffer from health issues due to the reservoir.

They repeated their stance that hazardous mine water and effluent would be stored in the huge reservoir being built on hundreds of acres.

They said that while the mining company executing the project was insisting that the stored effluent would not be harmful to human and animal life or the lands around it, the government appeared convinced by their [villagers’] point of view as it had kept asking people to agree on offering sacrifices for massive development that would be beneficial to the Thari people as well as Sindh and Pakistan.

The protesters noted that the government was not interested in addressing their grievances despite knowing that the reservoir would cause widespread destruction in the area. They severely criticised the elected representatives of Tharparkar for their ‘discreet silence’ over the issue.

The villagers have been holding protest demonstrations, rallies and marches regularly over the last three months during which several rounds of talks among the stakeholders — provincial government, the mining company and the villagers — were held but without any positive results.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2017