JHELUM: Open-air dumping and loading of Pink salt around Khewra Salt mines is a permanent source of spreading salinity on the lands around Pind Dadan Khan tehsil of Jhelum district.

Muhammad Zaheer Awan, a prominent journalist of Tobah, while talking to Dawn, said that millions of tons of pink salt are extracted from the world-famous Khewra Salt Mines of Jhelum district, and the dumping of salt in the open air continues as casually and carelessly as ever without paying attention to environmental impact on lands and crops.

Mr Zaheer Awan added that Pind Dadan Khan tehsil bears the larger brunt of widespread salinity, as not only has the surface land turned unfertile and sterile, but also underground water is blackish, and the denizens of the villages located away from the banks of the river Jhelum suffer acute shortage of drinking water.

Muhammad Waseem, another journalist of Pind Dadan Khan, said that being the rich land of salt, coal, soda ash and lime stone Pinda Dadan Khan deserved special packages of the Punjab government for mitigating the deprivation of the community.

Malik Naeem, manager of Punjab Minirals Development Corporation at Khewra Salt Mines, when asked to comment on open-air storage and loading of consignment of pink salt, the officer said that a plan for the construction of a shed and boundary wall at the site was in process.

However, the flash floods running down the hills during rainy days wash away crumbs of salt heaped under the sky, and the agricultural lands continue to turn barren deserts covered with salt powder, where nothing grows, but wild bushes persist.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2026