MITHI: Members of the Sindh Human Rights Commission showed their deep concerns over devastation and degradation of Karoonjhar hills in the Parkar region of Thar over the past decades.

The delegation led by retired Justice Majida Rizvi, the provincial chief of the commission, on Tuesday reached Nagarparkar town where they held a public hearing to listen to complaints of the area people.

The leaders of the Karoonjhar Sujag Forum including Allah Rakhio Khoso, Zulfikar Ali Khoso, Dileep Parmar, Mir Mohammad Dal, Sathi Somji Kolhi and others complained that the process of extraction of granite from hills was going on unabated and the illegal practice had already done massive damage to historical sites.

They requested retired Justice Rizvi and other members of the body to ensure preservation and protection of the hills and make concerted efforts so that Karoonjhar hills could be given the status of a national park.

They deplored that due to massive extraction of china clay near the hilly town, the environment of the region was terribly polluted.

They claimed that ditches created due to mining of the clay had already claimed the lives of a number of people and demanded remedial measures.

The leaders of the forum told Justice Rizvi and others that the local officials of the forest department had miserably failed to ensure the protection of precious trees, adding that due to massive unchecked chopping of trees, the region had already been damaged.

The leaders of the forum complained that construction work on the dams was not satisfactory and a number of dams were of no use in the area.

Sharjeel Memon, the forest officer, informed the delegation that they were making efforts to ensure protection to forest land and stop illegal practice of chopping of trees by taking stern actions against those involved in the racket.

Mohammad Siddique Mangrio, an official of mines and minerals department, said that process of extraction of granite started in 1980s when their department did not even exist. He said that he did not know who had given leases to the contractors of the granite extraction.

Mr Mangrio claimed that after strong notice taken by high-ups of the Sindh government the extraction of stones from various sites of the region had been halted.

He said that they had already asked the contractors of china clay to shift their factories away from the town within a month.

Habibullah Abbasi of the irrigation department said that they had never asked the contractors to use granite in construction of small dams. He said they had asked the contractors to completely stop using the granite of Karoonjhar hills.

Justice Rizvi speaking to the local journalists said that they had arrived in the area to assess the situation and inspect the sites.

She assured the area people that they would take up the issues with the high-ups very soon.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2019