MITHI: Villagers affected by Gorano wastewater reservoir, who were offered rosy settlement projects and lucrative compensation schemes by Sindh government and mining firm in return for their lands, have filed a petition in the Supreme Court to seek remedy after the promises made with them failed to materialise over the years since the construction of the reservoir in 2016.

Advocate Leelaram Meghwar, who filed the petition on behalf of 10 notables of the settlements, which were now submerged under the dam, said at a press conference at Islamkot Press Club on Saturday that he had high hopes of getting justice from the apex court.

He deplored that the wastewater being released into the controversial reservoir had created environmental degradation in a vast area around the dam.

He alleged that the officials of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company as well as high-ups of the Sindh government had not met the commitments they had made with them before releasing wastewater into the dam from the coalmines of Block-II of Thar Coalfields.

Compensation promised by Sindh govt in 2018 has not been given yet, petitioners claim

“Our fertile lands have been seriously affected by the release of toxic water from mines and all available resources of drinking water have become poisonous in the entire Gorano and other surrounding areas,” he claimed.

He said that toxic water had created environmental hazards for several thousand residents living in villages around the controversial dam project in which the mining firms dumped waste water through pipelines.

“The ecology, environment and the demography of the entire region which does not fall within the limits of Thar Coalfields are being damaged badly with each passing day but the officials of both the mining company and the Sindh government are now nowhere to be seen. They have now become inaccessible to the affected villagers who seek remedy in the light of claims and commitments they had made them with,” he added.

Leelaram said that they had filed a fresh petition after the Sindh High Court rejected their previous petition on technical grounds. They were determined to fight legal battle again with the miners and the high-ups concerned of the Sindh government, who had turned their region into unlivable for them, their livestock and the wildlife, he said.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2023