HYDERABAD: Over 250,000 people migrate from coastal areas
Bureau Report
HYDERABAD, April 11: To mark the world summit on sustainable development, a consultative workshop on Poverty-Environment Nexus was organized at the auditorium of Sindh Language Authority here on Wednesday.
The workshop was jointly organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Government of Sindh.
The participants of the workshop were of the considered opinion that the construction of mega projects, like the greater Thal canal, posed a serious danger to the survival of Sindh.
The workshop observed that Sindh, which was the second biggest province of the country and was at the tail-end of the River Indus, was never consulted about the construction of these mega projects.
The result was that on the one hand, the environment and ecosystem of the coastal areas had been totally destroyed and on the other hand, the fertile land of the province had been rendered barren.
Not only this, but 1.2 million acres of cultivable land had been seriously affected and over 250,000 people had been forced to migrate from the coastal areas in search of livelihood.
The participants of the workshop pointed out that to fetch drinking water, people had to travel 15 kilometres and the population of several villages of Badin and Thatta districts had abandoned their homes due to the intrusion of seawater.
The workshop held that development work in the country must be carried out, but not by destroying Sindh.
The participants of the workshop opined that the people of Sindh were against the construction of any dam over river Indus and called upon the Wapda not to undertake the construction of any mega project without the consent of the people of Sindh, stakeholders, technocrats and the media, as it was a question of survival of Sindh and preservation of its thousands of years old culture.
The participants of the workshop said that the people of Sindh should not be punished for their political consciousness and demanded that the question whether the people accept or reject the greater Thal canal project should also be included in the presidential election form.
The workshop reminded the authorities that the IUCN, after conducting a survey, had recommended that 27 MAF (million acre foot) water should be released downstream Kotri for the environmental development of the area.
The participants of the workshop wondered that why this recommendation had not been implemented and why talks were going on to undertake a new study.
