KARACHI, March 17: The last-minute decision to postpone a public hearing on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, pertaining to exploration activities in the Latif Concession block in Khairpur district, has raised concerns among the stakeholders
, according to some conservation circle sources.
It was learnt that on Monday, director-general of the Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) had announced through the national press that it would hold a public hearing on the EIA report in the Sachal Sarmast Auditorium on Thursday.
Letters were also sent to the different stakeholders, including academicians, subject experts, environment and natural resource conservationists and representatives of the NGOS and government.
However, some of the invited persons were informed only on Tuesday that the hearing, which was mandatory under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act of 1997, would not be held on Thursday. Neither the reasons for postponing the hearing nor a new date for one and were disclosed, a conservation activist told Dawn.
A source claimed that the high-ups at the SEPA too were unsure about the conduct of public hearing on Thursday, as their controlling authorities had not made up their mind on the issue yet.
In the past it was only under the demand of the participants and people from the project areas that an event was fixed for some place other than Karachi.
The environment activist said such abrupt shifting of the public hearing on an EIA report reduced the interest of the stakeholders as well as the community concerned.
Some of the invited persons and the people of Khairpur were not aware that the meeting scheduled for Thursday had been postponed, he added. He urged the environment department to ensure the credibility of SEPA.
Only last week, during a consultation on EIA, it had been noted that the hearing had lost its appeal due to inappropriate and frequent changes of venue and dates. If there was a dispute on the issue, director-general of the SEPA should not have advertised the dates of the meeting, said a representative of an NGO.
The EIA report in question pertained to seismic survey and drilling of exploratory wells in Latif Concession area, and was submitted by OMV Exploration (Pakistan) in February. The project territories cover two protected areas, including Nara Desert Wildlife Sanctuary and the Nara Game Reserves.
This reporter visited the SEPA complex in Korangi on Wednesday, but no senior official, including the director-general, was available for comments. When contacted, the secretary of the environment department - Shujaat A Qarni, who sits in the SEPA complex - said the hearing had been postponed, with the approval of the CM's adviser environment, because some new requirements needed to be met.
"The public hearing has been deferred till the time SEPA officials pay a visit to and inspect the OMV exploratory site," he said, adding that the hearing must be a meaningful one and not a one-sided show. He said the party undertaking exploration activities had already been informed about the changes.
