MITHI: A large number of peo­ple from various walks of life in the hilly town of Nagarparkar on Friday took to the streets to register their protest against the ongoing extraction of precious granite from Karoonjhar hills.

After marching on different roads and streets, the protesters staged a demonstration on Kabso Road in the heart of the town for over two hours led by Allah Rak­hio Khoso, Lala Qambar, Maghno Kolhi, Bheerulal, Ramesh Parkari and others.

The leaders came down hard on those who were causing “colossal damage” to the beautiful Karoon­jhar hills for the past many months without any check.

They alleged that local influen­tial figures were fully supporting contractors to damage the hills by extracting stones for building dams, roads and other infrastruc­ture despite the fact that none of them had the legal documents of lease.

They said the elected lawmakers from the region and local govern­ment officials were silent over illegal extraction and transporta­tion of granite by using heavy machinery.

Greed to extract china clay from the hilltop of Karoonjhar had already caused massive damage to the natural beauty of the region and deep ditches dug for extrac­ting the clay had claimed the lives of a number of local residents, they alleged.

“Corporations and politicians are slowly depriving the people of this land of their source of life and are brutally trampling upon the sacred ground,” they added.

They demanded stern action against those involved in the illegal practice and a declaration to preserve the hilly region, old temples, mosques and also flora and fauna of the region.

They threatened to widen the scope of their protest in other towns of Tharparkar and the rest of the province if quick remedial measures were not taken.

Meanwhile, a drive has been launched by activists on social media against the questionable acts of greedy contractors and their supporters who were playing havoc with the natural beauty of the hills.

Talking to Dawn, they deman­ded the high-ups of both the federal and Sindh governments take strong notice of the massive devastation being caused to the area.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2019