THATTA, April 4: Hundreds of people belonging to coastal communities staged a rally outside the office of DCO to protest against the negative impact of Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) “Sindh coastal and inland community development project”.

The rally organised by the Safe Indus Delta Network (SIDN) and some non-governmental organizations (NGOs), coincided with an ADB delegation’s meeting on the project with district officials and civil society organizations at the DCO office on Tuesday.

The protesters including men, women and children raised slogans against the project which they said ignored coastal community’s basic problems and rehabilitation of affectees of Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) tidal link.

They said lack of fresh water and continuous degradation of natural fisheries and agriculture resources were main problems facing coastal areas but the project had turned a blind eye to them.

No development was possible without availability of fresh water, they said expressing fear the project might just serve to add to the burden on the province letting the degradation of natural resources continue unabated.

Just a few steps away in the DCO office the ADB team led by Mr Simon Tiller was briefing district officials and representatives of some NGOs on the project.

Mr Simon said the institutional reforms in Coastal Development Authority (CDA), mangroves plantation and small scale community development initiatives were the project’s key components.

Some members of NGOs raised serious reservations. They said the project failed to address the impact of reduction in the flow downstream Kotri Barrage.

They said the ADB and World Bank were equally responsible for more than 20 disasters that had hit the Thatta and Badin over last 16 years mainly caused by faulty design of the tidal link of LBOD, and had so far killed more than 300 people, displaced more than 5000 and degraded thousands of acres of land.

It was the banks’ moral and legal responsibility to address the LBOD’s negative impact and suggest measures to rehabilitate the affected communities and their resources.