KARACHI: Pipeline being laid thru wildlife sanctuary
By Bhagwandas
KARACHI, July 16: A government-owned oil and gas company, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), is laying a gas pipeline through Drigh Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, which is not allowed under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Act.
According to sources, the PPL staff had illegally cleared around 40-foot-wide vegetation and has dug up about 500 feet trench with the help of heavy duty earth-moving machinery in the sanctuary, located in Larkana district.
The sources said vegetation from a large portion of the sanctuary and its surrounding buffer area had also been cleared that could be detrimental to wildlife and migratory birds.
The PPL wants to dig up the 40-foot-wide and 1,745-foot-long trench through the lake to lay the pipeline.
The sources said the PPL has neither informed the Sindh Wildlife Department nor has carried out the environment impact assessment of the project, which is mandatory in case the project area comprises a protected area.
The Drigh Lake Wildlife Sanctuary is not only one of the most important wetlands, but has also been declared Ramsar Site.
The Ramsar Convention, under which the lake has been protected, lays down strict conditions and spells out what could be done and what should not be done at a Ramsar Site. The convention bans such activities at a Ramsar Site.
The sources said the PPL under its Mazarani Gas Field Development Project is laying an eight-inch dia 85-kilometre gas pipeline from Mazarani Gas Field to Larkana for supplying gas to the main system/line under the directives of the federal petroleum ministry.
The PPL maintains that it has acquired over 190 acres of land and paid approximately Rs21 million to the district officer (revenue), Larkana, which has also been notified. It insists that at no stage during the land acquisition and the extensive survey process did it ever come to know that a portion of the pipeline would traverse through the sanctuary.
The organization maintains that leaving the legal aspect of the matter aside, the submerged crossing of the pipeline through the Drigh Lake would not disturb or spoil the natural wildlife habitat in any manner.
The Sindh Wildlife Conservator, Muneer Awan, said the PPL’s activities were illegal and were strictly prohibited under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Act.
He said the wildlife staff had already taken cognizance of the illegal activities of the organization.
Sindh Wildlife and Environment secretary Shamsul Haq Memon said the PPL staff was carrying out illegal activity which has been stopped by the wildlife staff and presently no work was going on.
