REFERENCE to the news story ‘Looming threat of dispossession’ (Jan 15), the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) would like to clarify that not a single household shall be moved or relocated due to construction of the Gorrano Reservoir because there is no human settlement within the boundaries of the reservoir.

The land acquisition process for the project was done by the government department concerned and not by Engro. The entire payment against acquisition of 532 acres of private land has been deposited in the designated government accounts to make payments to legal claimants. So far, payments of 160 acres of private land at the rate of Rs300,000 per acre have been made to the legally rightful land owners.

As far as people without legal land ownership or landless farmers whose livelihood may have been associated with the land inside the reservoir are concerned, a mechanism is being developed by the Sindh government to pay due compensation along with provision of alternative grazing land under the Resettlement Policy Framework approved by the government.

Some of the protesters had submitted a petition in the Sindh High Court in June 2016 against the construction of the said reservoir, which is under review by the honorable Court.

Recently, the Court has formed a 4-member expert committee to determine the facts of the case giving them 2 months to submit their report. The court has not issued any stay order and hence construction work is ongoing at the site.

As far as the alternative site for reservoir is concerned, consultants and designers of the project initially proposed to dispose of this natural underground water in a natural salt lake called “Trisingri Dhand”, located in the Rann of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary but during the initial environmental study this site was rejected because the area falls within the boundaries of the Ramsar Treaty.

After a detailed and thorough topographic survey of the entire area, at least six other disposal sites were considered but were all found to be inadequate for various technical, environmental or social reasons.

The current site near Gorano village is not only technically feasible having the required storage capacity, it is also socially viable with no human resettlement involved.

The Sindh Environment Protection Agency duly issued the NOC for the site after following all the legal and codal formalities.

Mohsin Babbar

Manager, Media & Communications

SECMC

Karachi

Published in Dawn January 18th, 2017