KARACHI, April 25: The archeology department has declined the request for the issuance of a no-objection certificate for the proposed alignment of the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) as it bisects one of the major pre-historic archeological sites in Sindh, it is learnt.
According to sources, the mega RBOD project will bring out effluent from the land on the right bank of the Indus and empty it into the Arabian Sea through the Gharo Creek taking the deadly load through two historic sites of Amri, dating back to 3,700-3,000 BC, in Dadu district.
The sources said that the Sindh Irrigation and Power Department (SIPD), which is implementing the drainage project, had approached the archeology department for the NOC, but the latter had shown its reservations over the drain's route.
The SIPD had also arranged a visit by top archeology department officials to the site in helicopters. The officials were informed that the proposed drain would pass through the two Amri mounds.
The SIPD contended that barring the two mounds which were of some archeological importance, the entire land between the sites was just a plain wasteland of no significance - archeological or otherwise.
After the visit, however, the archeology officers in their communication to the SIPD pointed out that if the proposed drain was constructed between the Amri mounds, a great loss would have to be suffered.
The conservationists pointed out that the mounds (referred to as A and B) had actually been a single settlement divided eventually into two separate mounds due to flooding in the nearby river.
Amri is a very important site as it has added a new dimension to the origin of the Indus Valley Civilization. It is a small village, situated between the right bank of the Indus river and Lakhi Hills in Dadu district where remains of the Chalcolithic settlement were found by N. C. Majumdar in 1929.
Excavations were also carried out later by a French Mission and the Archeology Department between 1959 and 1962. Three different periods were detected, each distinctly marked by its peculiar pottery and other objects, on the basis of which chronological sequence could be established.
On the top came the Muslim occupation characterized by glazed and moulded pottery bearing affinities with that of Thatta and Multan. A few coins recovered from the layers indicate that the settlement belonged to the Mughal period.
Below the Muslim settlement were the remains of a civilization which dates back to the third millennium BC. The potshreds, thick in texture, indicate a by-product of Harappan, Jhukar and Chanhudaro cultures, which represent the late phase of the Indus Valley civilization.
The lower layers have, however, brought to light the mature culture of Harappa and Moenjodaro. A kiln enclosed within a burnt brick compartment is remarkably similar to that found at Harappa in brick size and masonry.
The lower most layer was marked by a pottery of thin fabric bearing geometric and other motifs on a buff or sepia body. This is the typical Amri pottery whose parallells could be traced in Balochistan and Iran.
According to the sources, the RBOD's proposed alignment could be changed to save the historical site. Further down the present alignment, the RBOD drain will also pass through the land very close to the Haleji Lake, the sweet water reservoir. Seepage from the drain may contaminate the water as had happened in the case of Manchhar Lake, the biggest sweet water lake of the country.
The Sindh Wildlife Department, which manages the Haleji Lake, has also expressed concern over proposed RBOD alignment project realizing that the drain would pass through an area close to the lake which is also a Ramsar Site, the highest international status that a wetland could get from the conservation point of view.
