KARACHI: Expressing serious reservations over the way the government is handling the Thar coal power project that involves extensive mining, experts participating in a consultation at a hotel on Wednesday called upon the government to develop a long-term vision for Thar after reviewing the project in a holistic manner.

They feared that the project in which the provincial government acted as a major shareholder as well as an environmental regulator might have serious repercussions on the life of locals, their livelihood, culture and unique ecology, including its huge wealth of livestock.

The programme titled ‘Understanding development in Thar’ was organised by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) and was presided over by its chairman, retired Justice Ali Nawaz Chowhan.

Use of coal for electricity, likely to gradually become cheaper, justified

The discussion was held in the backdrop of Tharis’ long agitation against the Gorano reservoir that exposed the trust deficit on the project between the government, the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) and people representing communities and various non-governmental organisations working in the Thar region.

Sharing his concerns, Dr Sono Khangharani, a senior development expert, said the project involving coal mining would lead to immediate displacement of locals from 52 villages.

“These people have the right to land that they can call home. Would this displacement occur voluntarily or involuntarily? Would people be compensated fairly and timely? And, is there any competent body to ensure that the rights and needs of the displaced people are properly protected?” he said.

He also raised reservations over what he described as “monopoly” of one power company in Thar and said that it seemed that the government had outsourced its mandate of serving the people to a company.

Referring to the environmental damage the project might cause, Dr Khangharani said: “Who would be responsible if local population fell ill after drinking contaminated drinking water or when their grazing lands for livestock are eliminated?”

Seconding his opinion, Ali Akbar Rahimoon, a civil society representative from Thar, said that a 9,000-square-kilometre area had been identified in Thar having coal reserves, which constituted 50 per cent of the whole Thar region.

The government, he said, must accept land ownership rights of the Tharis before offering them any compensation. “It’s our ancestral land. The British accepted it. Who are you to ask people to leave their homes?”

He claimed that not a single person affected by the Gorano reservoir had been compensated and the government had no resettlement policy.

The environmental impact assessment reports carried out so far in the region were also criticised and it was pointed out that they had been carried out in bits and pieces and there was a need for a study to review cumulative impact of the coal-based projects on the whole region.

There were also allegations of threats that people opposing the project had received and that there was no mention of the Gorano reservoir in any government document.

Transformation of region

Seasoned architect and development expert Arif Hasan spoke about the need to have a long-term vision for the region experiencing fast transformation of its subsistence economy moving towards capitalism.

“The area of rangeland would shrink whereas urbanisation would increase along with rise in investment. How are we going to manage this major change? We need to have a vision to tackle this change that would seriously affect the locals as well as the region’s ecology.”

He emphasised the need for sustainable development and said that development could not be left to the private sector alone and that the state had to play its role and protect people’s rights and environment.

Advocate Rafay Alam traced the history of environmental laws and said the level of extremely harmful pollutants such as PM 2.5 and PM 10 were already high in Thar and mining activity would further harm the environment, indicating that there was a dire need to protect public interests.

Energy department secretary Agha Wasif justified the government position as a project shareholder and environmental regulator and said that it helped get the much-needed guarantees and financial support.

Replying to some of the concerns, chief executive officer of SECMC Shamsuddin Shaikh said detailed environmental impact assessment studies were conducted separately for both coal mining and power plant in Thar Block-II by a reputed international mining consultant.

‘National importance’

He justified the use of coal for electricity and said that as the project would progress, the cost of electricity would come down. The $3bn project of national importance, he said, was above political considerations and was supported by both the federal and provincial governments.

“The company is following all national, provincial and international standards and guidelines on environment and to ensure safe operation. We believe that our major stakeholder is the community and the company would take every step to benefit them,” he said, informing the audience about a list of measures the company had taken in the region that included health, education and employment initiatives.

The company, he said, was building houses to benefit locals, had compensated people and set up a foundation to serve people.

He described NGOs working in Thar as a “mafia”, a term which was resented by other speakers.

Earlier, Justice Chowhan and Anis Haroon, member of the NCHR, spoke on the need for the discussion and said that a task force would be set up to act as a bridge between the communities and the project executors.

MPAs Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, Dr Mahesh Malani, Prof Noman Ahmed of the NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karamat Ali of Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research and Advocate Leela Ram also spoke.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2017