HYDERABAD, Aug 4: Sindh United Party (SUP) chief Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah said on Monday that the Pakistan People’s Party had always sold Sindh’s resources to the centre and once again a conspiracy had been hatched to hand over control of Thar coal reserves to the federal government.

Jalal Shah said in his address to a big rally, which marched from Nasim Nagar Chowk and terminated at the press club that the present government had approved Kalabagh Dam and other water storage projects at June 2 meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) in the name of ‘mid-term development and upgradation of physical infrastructure of new water storages’.

He said that the PPP had always sold Sindh’s resources to the centre and claimed that federal minister for water and power had announced on May 26 abandoning Kalabagh Dam project but surprisingly an NEC meeting chaired by deputy chairman Salman Farooqi, six days after the minister’s announcement, approved Kalabagh, Akhori and Bhasha dam projects.

He said that as per NEC’s meeting the projects were to be completed by 2016.

About Thar coal, Jalal Shah said that under a conspiracy Thar coal reserves were being handed over to the centre but the SUP would foil such moves. Thar’s coal was the property of Sindh and it had never been a subject of the federation, he said.

He said that the present government was eliminating the poor instead of alleviating poverty. Despite passage of four months the PPP government had failed to bring relief to people, he said.

He complained that police were harassing SUP activists to pressurise them to change loyalty and said that the prices of essential commodities and edibles were now beyond the reach of consumers.

The rally led by Zain Shah, SUP secretary general Salam Rajput, deputy secretary general and Dr. Dodo Maheri, central committee member, submitted a memorandum to the Regional Police Officer (RPO) of Hyderabad in Shahbaz Building, detailing excesses allegedly committed by DPOs of Nawabshah and Jamshoro against SUP activists.