Thar Voice Forum reiterates opposition to reservoir

SUKKUR: The activists of various human rights organizations and others, who have recently formed the Thar Voice Forum, on Tuesday rejected the claims of the company officials that the reservoir would not affect even a single person even in Gorano village. 

Pratab Shivani, Ali Akbar Rahimoon, Dr Bhisham Kotak and others, who have launched the movement on various forums against the alleged hazardous reservoir by the mining firm, rejected outright the recent statements of the officials of the coalmining company. 

They said that the highly toxic water from the mines would devastate the whole area.  "The hazardous water, in the light of various studies conducted by experts and environmentalists, will destroy the environment and wreak havoc for both agriculture and grazing in and around 12 villages and ultimately force over 15,000 residents of the vast area to leave their centuries-old abodes," they added. 

They termed the company's claims that not a single villager would be affected by the environmental degradation as a joke. The members of TVF challenged them to hold an open debate in order to prove what they called their fake claims. 

They requested Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to visit the site himself to hear the grievances and objections of the local people. They said that officials of both the firm and the Sindh government were continuously trying to prove that Tharis were against the Thar coal project, adding that they had made it clear that that the members of the civil society were only against the site of the pond. 

The activists said that they were in contact with senior lawyers, rights activists, political figures, journalists, water experts and environmentalists across the country to visit the site and express their opinions on their contentions and objections. 

They said that water over 180 meters deep would contain numerous toxicities which could never evaporate as is being claimed by the miners.   They said they would continue their protest until the site was changed.