MITHI: Children and women were among villagers of Gorano who resumed their hunger strike outside the Islamkot press club for the 68th consecutive day on Tuesday in protest against construction of a pond by a mining firm to dump water of coal mines.

Advocate Leela Ram, leader of the protesters, told local reporters that heavy machinery was being used by the mining firm to uproot thousands of trees in their areas for constructing the pond and laying a pipeline.

He said that officials of the firm were misleading people by showing fake reports that water of the mines would not affect the area and it could be used for cultivation instead.

Rights activists and members of civil society visited the camp to show their sympathies with the hunger strikers.

A large number of workers of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz launched a long march from Mithi to Islamkot town to express their solidarity with the protesting villagers.

On the other hand, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company, Shamsuddin Ahmed Shaikh, has again claimed that genuine concerns of the villagers of Gorano would soon be addressed.

In a statement issued to reporters of Islamkot, he informed that talks with the protesting villagers were going smoothly and he hoped that the matter would soon be resolved.

He made it clear that the site of water reservoir on 1,500 acres of land could not be changed since the firm had spent millions of rupees on the project to dump water of the mines of block-2 of Thar coal field.

He said the firm was making sincere efforts to give maximum facilities to the villagers living within the area of the field. “Not a single villager even from the Gorano village will be affected and they could use the same water for cultivation of crops,” he added.

He said the company was focusing on various other projects to give maximum relief to the area people.

Published in Dawn December 28th, 2016