MITHI: Former chief executive officer (CEO) of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), Shamsuddin Ahmed Shaikh, has said that he has resigned in utter frustration over “callous” attitude of Thar lawmakers and Sindh government functionaries towards welfare and development projects for drought-hit desert dwellers.

“I resigned prematurely beca­use I was completely disappointed with rulers’ indifference to fulfilling their commitments with locals living in Thar coalfield area and their utter failure to provide poverty-stricken people basic amenities of life,” said Mr Shaikh while talking to this reporter over phone on Wednesday.

He said that most Thar lawmakers were “incompetent” and lacked courage to raise genuine issues of the desert region at proper forums. They had not even thought of taking up genuine issues of Thar with the PPP’s top brass or high-ups of Sindh government and put in efforts to have Thar coalfield projects executed and provide relief to people, he said.

He said that instead of hollow slogans and promises Tharis living in the coalfield area and the rest of the drought-hit desert district needed sustainable policies to mitigate their sufferings complicated by recurring droughts.

He said that Bilawal Bhutto-Zard­ari, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and lawmakers and functionaries of Sindh government, which was a major shareholder in the company’s mega projects, made innumerable promises to Thar’s people during their frequent visits to the coalfield area that they would provide all basic facilities and even royalty from coal projects. But when he asked them to fulfil their promises they turned a deaf ear to his reminders, he claimed.

“I can’t continue to serve as CEO of the company which, despite achieving its targets ahead of schedule, was not in a position to serve even the displaced people because of indifferent attitude of Sindh government functionaries,” he said.

He said the firm was all set to provide 660 megawatts to national grid through transmission line but no local lawmaker or Sindh government functionary made sincere efforts to provide electricity to villagers living in Block No. 2.

Mr Shaikh said that he tried his best to persuade protesting villagers from Gorano to call off their long protest but they ended the agitation only after PPP candidates held talks with them a few days before general election in July this year.

He said that he kept fighting with the elements which created hurdles to the projects and served Tharis without any discrimination from the funds of Thar Foundation.

Mr Shaikh clarified that he had no differences with the company top brass and he was proud to be part of the firm.

“I am still a hundred per cent hopeful that the firm will continue its work as per its commitment,” Mr Shaikh said while evading comments on reports that he had developed differences with some top officials of the firm.

“It was a painful moment of my life when I decided to quit the job ahead of retirement age,” he said and added that the company had done all the work while the Sindh government could not even complete work on 123km-long water pipeline from Left Bank Outfall Drain near Nabisar area.

Mr Shaikh surprised many with his sudden decision on Monday to quit as CEO of SECMC which he had steered successfully for six years. Sources said that Mr Shaikh had had an exchange of harsh words with some high-ranking offi­cers of Sindh government over slow-paced implementation of various development schemes for Tharis.

He was furious over the traditional bureaucratic lethargy which had led to delaying the power plants project by at least a month for want of required quantity of water to cool down boilers, said the sources.

No other Thar lawmaker except PPP MNA Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani was available for making any comment on the serious allegations levelled on them by Mr Shaikh.

Mr Malani outright rejected Mr Shaikh’s accusations and said that his early retirement might be an outcome of internal issues in the mining firm.

He urged Mr Shaikh to come up with solid proof against government. No PPP lawmaker from Thar had ever tried to intervene in the company’s affairs despite the fact that Sindh government had 54pc shares in the coal projects, he said.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2018