MITHI, April 9: The federal minister for petroleum and natural resources, Usman Aminuddin, performed the ground-breaking ceremony of sinking of the exploratory shaft, near Thare-o-Tar village, in Thar coal field, on Tuesday.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Aminuddin said that although around 175 billion tons of fine quality coal were discovered in Thar, the successive governments could not devise an appropriate strategy for exploration of these deposits.

He, however, said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf was not only taking keen interest in the development of Thar, but a comprehensive mineral policy had also been formulated under the directive of the president.

The federal minister said that the reserves of Thar coal, which are considered to be suitable for power generation, owing to low ash/sulphur contents, were believed to sustain for many centuries.

He said that in first phase, a power plant of 600 mega watt, which would use Thar coal, would be established in Thar. The power generation capacity of the power plant would be increased up to 1200mw in phase-II, and would be further increased to 3000mw in phase-III .

The coal deposits, discovered in Thar, are likely to pave the way for the development of infrastructure in this backward belt, besides improving the living standard of the locals.

Earlier, in his welcome speech, the Naib Nazim of Tharparkar district, Ramsingh Sodho, urged the government to provide adequate compensation to those Tharis, whose villages and agricultural lands would be affected during the coal digging process, spend the coal royalty on the upliftment of Thar, and to provide jobs to Tharis on priority basis.