Thar Voice Forum - Thar Coal Context

December 25, 2016

Thar Coal and Indigenous People

Gorrano Effluent Pond Issue and its Solution
Background
Tharparkar district, the only fertile desert in the world is spread over an area of 19,638
square kilometers and with the lowest Human Development Index of all the districts in
Sindh province of Pakistan. Under the 9,100 square kilometers of this dessert (46% of
the total land of Tharparkar) lies one of the worlds largest coal reserves which are
estimated 170 billion tons. This would probably be one of the largest ever coal extraction
mission in human history to be taken out in single area.
Currently, Thar coal deposits are divided into 14 different blocks to be used by several
multi-national coal corporations. Sindh Engro Mining Coal Company (SECMC) has been
allotted Block II spread over 95.5 square kilometers (1% of coal reserve) by federal and
provincial governments through competitive bidding process.

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It is fortunate for the country that its one of the district have one of the worlds
largest lignite deposits which are sufficient to meet the countrys fuel requirements for
centuries.
A ray of hope arose among the people of Tharparkar district who have been remained
deprived of all perks of development for the decades when they first came to know about
the treasure of black gold lying under their feet in 1991. They happily welcomed
exploration and extraction of coal for a brighter Thar and prosperous Pakistan. On top of
it, recently with the efforts of federal and provincial governments, three projects of coalfired power plants and mining are included in China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
which will definitely contribute greatly in prosperous Pakistan with no shortage of
electricity and lots of economic opportunities.

SECMC and GoS Joint Venture

SECMC is a joint venture created in 2008 between the Government of Sindh (GoS) and
Engro PowerGen Limited (EPL), with initial equity split of 40:60 between the two partners,
respectively. Within the joint venture arrangements, the GoS will be responsible for
infrastructure development including providing necessary security; providing access to
the site; dewatering and effluent disposal; supply of water; development of necessary
road network; and assistance in relocating; and SECMC along with China Machinery
Engineering Corporation (CMEC) will extract the coal through open pit mining.
SECMC and its partner started work in 2009-10 on ground to conduct baselines, data
collections and fulfill prerequisites for feasibility, etc. SECMC after achieving financial
closure, soon started their work on ground. However, there was a very little resistance
from the local community of Block II but later it was settled between the community and
the company. But it was only in June this year when all the hopes of local indigenous
peoples were shattered due to exploitation and wrongdoings of SECMC and the
carelessness of GoS.
This story starts from here when the SECMEC/GoS without notifying the resettlement
policy framework started purchasing the land of local people through 100 years old
colonial era Land Acquisition Act. This shows shear violation of International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and international guarantees of which
Pakistan is also a signatory.
Strategic Environmental and Social Impact Assessment
In fact, GoS should have conducted a Strategic Environmental and Social Impacts
Assessment (S-ESIA) for Thar coal mining and related projects which should assess and

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suggest policy level mitigation measures for the issues of relocation and compensation,
development of new settlements, land acquisition, ecological management, employment,
water supply, wastewater disposals and mine closures, etc. - but there is no any
information on the S-ESIA from GoS till date.
Resettlement Issues
Initially, GoS acquired 6,000 acre (24 square kilometers) land for the company without
having resettlement action plan in place. The civil society activists and local peoples
raised their concerns through different forums and proposed recommendations for
resettlement plan but none of the recommendations was incorporated or implemented.
Even none of the parliamentarian bothered to draft or table a bill on an important issue of
resettling the indigenous people living on 9100 sq. km coal field area. This is a serious
question mark on the capacity, vision and will of political leadership who are so ignorant
of such a big issue. Thus the whole resettlement plan was deliberately overlooked to
benefit the corporation.
The reasons of lying emphasis on the resettlement plan being that it will cause potential
risks including landlessness, joblessness, homelessness, marginalization, food
insecurity, loss of access to common property resources, morbidity and social
disarticulation.
Despite all the misdemeanors during road and airport construction and allotment of Block
II and Block V lands, the people of Thar being simpleton, sincere and hospitable
welcomed SECMC and other companies with open arms who told the overjoyed people
of Thar that their lot is about to improve exponentially. But over the years it appears that
all the development mantra was and is geared to exploit, displace and destroy the lives
of Thari people and disfigure the landscape of unique Thari land, ecology and culture.
ESIA by Haigler Bailly Pakistan
The Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) for mining to be established
in Block II was conducted by Hagler Bailly Pakistan and this document has 2 volumes:
http://engropowergen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/PDF/R2M03THP-Final_ReportESIA_of_Thar_Coal_Block_II_Mining.pdf
http://engropowergen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/PDF/R2M03THPThe_Appendices-ESIA_of_Thar_Coal_Block_II_Mining_Pr.pdf
The scope of ESIA does not cover activities that are to be undertaken by the GoS
including development of access road from Badin to Islamkot, construction of water

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supply channel, installation of pipeline and associated infrastructure, and supply of water
and disposal of water produced by dewatering of mine.
Dewatering/Effluent Disposal Issue:
There are 03 layers of underground water and for open pit mining, water from first
layer/aquifer (above the coal) need to be dragged out. As per Haigler Baillys ESIA report,
surface water and groundwater inflows into the mine pit have been estimated. The mine
pit will be dewatered through the use of submersible pumps installed in sumps at the base
of the open pit. The rate of disposal has been estimated at 990 liters per second (l/s). A
complete dewatering system will be used to lower the groundwater table to avoid the
influence during mining activity. For this purpose 28 dewatering wells would be installed
initially around the proposed pit. Shifting of the mining pit will necessitate the addition of
the four new wells every two years and the shifting of the some of the existing wells. The
effluent water from the wells will be collected through a network of pipes to a main sump
from where it will be disposed through a disposal system to be developed by the GoS.
In Exhibit 6.8 on page number 167 of ESIA report, different options, their consequences
and suggestions for disposal of dewatering water or effluent disposal are discussed:
OPTION
Rann of
Kutch

POSITIVE
Could be
economically the
best option

LBOD

Evaporation
Pond

Possible creation
of new wetlands

Reinjection

Maintains overall
water balance

Disposal to
salt lakes

Possible
improvement in
wetlands

NEGATIVE
Impacts on wetland
and possible
transboundary
issues
Increased
downstream
impacts.
Higher cost due to
pumping
requirements to
higher elevations
Very large land
requirements to
higher elevations
Possible conflicts
within communities
Possible adverse
impacts on mining
activities
-

COMMENTS
Not considered feasible due
to technical reasons

Not considered feasible due

to technical and economic
reasons

Not considered feasible due

to social and economic
reasons
Not considered feasible due
to technical reasons

GoS considers this as the

preferred option

In the above table of ESIA, feasible option for site for disposal of dewatered effluent is
mentioned as salt lakes. Major salt lakes are seven in number and 34-45 kilometers

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(25.9kms from Block II to Gorrano site plus kms of each salt lake) away from Block II.
Below are the distances of discussed salt lakes (except Jhangro salt lake which is around
34 kilometers).

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It is very much clear from Haigler Baillys ESIA reports of mining project that Gorrano or
any other site wasnt assessed for the purpose.
RWE Feasibility Study
Additionally, SECMC claims that their consultants Rheinisch-Westflisches
Elektrizittswerk (RWE) and NED University have conducted the assessment of disposal
sites including Gorrano and Dhukhar Chho (Dukhar Shah)!
RWE has conducted feasibility study of overall project which also doesnt mention any
dewatering disposal site except salt lake and Rann of Kutch.
http://www.nepra.org.pk/Licences/Licence%20Application/2015/Generation%20License
%20Application%20of%20Egnro%20Powergen%20Thar%20(Private)%20Limited.pdf
Under the water disposal section, it mentions on page number 14: The mine water
preparation and conditioning through reverse osmosis will produce brine with a high TDS
content which needs to be discharged. Because of the high TDS content, the authorities
will not allow it to be discharged with the mine drainage water into the pipeline running
from the power plant to the salt lake.
Furthermore on page 15 and onwards, it recommends that Through a sophisticated
water management system the amount of waste water should be reduced to a minimum.
In case of mine drainage water use the RO / Evaporation rest waters have to be disposed
in a way which will not harm soil, drinking water sources or any other surface water.
Because of the concentrated TDS content with higher than 20 000 ppm the brine couldn't
be dumped via pipeline together with the untreated mine drainage water into the Rann of
Kutch.
There seems no any logic of conducting any assessment on SECMC expense outside
Block II and as mentioned above that GoS is responsible for dewatering and effluent
disposal and all other schemes to be carried out outside Block II.
NED University/ Engineering Associates (Pvt. Ltd.) Studies
In year 2014, GoS involved Engineering Associates (EA) Pvt. Ltd. to conduct hydroecological impact of 50 Cusecs Drainage of Wastewater & Effluent Channel / Pipeline
project comprises laying effluent disposal pipeline from Thar Coal Field Block II to
depression area of Dhukar Chho (Dukkar Shah) with the cost of PKR 3.672 Billions. The
pipeline is designed to convey effluent produced during mining for power generation
activities, estimated to be 50 cusecs from Thar Coal Field. The total route (including its
course
in
Block
II)
of
disposal
pipeline
is
around
40
km.

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Engineering Associates (EA) collaborated with Water Modeling Center (WMC) and Civil
Engineering Department of NED University to conduct the survey.
http://eaworld.com/Projects

The above figure illustrates blocks of coal mine, disposal pipeline (marked with red), and
the Dhukkar Chho depression as disposal site (marked as green circle).
These consultants conducted Volume Based Analysis of water disposal at Dhukkar Chho,
which concluded that the disposal pond marked is for 822 days (2.25 years) that would
fill up 4 108 ft3 of water. The area of disposal pond is 692 acre. Further inundation after
2.25 years will be toward South to a greater extent, reaching wetlands as there is no ridge
and aquitard to obstruct the flow any further.

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They also made some recommendations for strategic management of disposed water:
1. Withdrawal of certain amount can be done to cultivate coconut trees that will
endow benefits such as reduction in water level of the pond, utilization of stored
water, and increase in economy.
2. Injection of water in the ground.
It should be noted that this report also doesnt mention Gorrano site and no further report
is made public/available for consideration/discussion by SECMC and GoS.

Gorrano Site Issue

Gorrano is a village and nearby that SECMC plans to use a natural depression of around
1500 acres for constructing effluent disposal pond (for which work on ground was started
in May 2016 and continues till date). This area falls in Deh Mithrau Chuto of UC
Giryancho, tehsil Islamkot. This is about 26 kms away from Thar Coal block-II.

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The said pond is being built to dispose-off the water which will be dragged-out from block
II mining site. It is also an information that this site also will be used for effluent/brine
which will be produced from power generation units (as per above mentioned reports of
RWE and EA/NED.)
The effluent pond is being built on 1500 acres land and from which 532 is surveyed private
land and rest of is communal land used for grazing of cattle. Initially, the pond was
planned for 2700 acres on this site.
There are 12 villages having approximately 15,000 population which will be affected
directly or indirectly by this intervention. There are 05 graveyards, 26 dug wells (a rough
map shows area and population attached herewith as annex-A)
As mentioned above the arrangements within Joint Venture, this is basically a GoS
project. But as SECMC is in hurry to meet the irrational timeline (5-6 months ahead of
actual/scientific timeline to start the power generation by Engro Powergen under GoS and
federal govt.s pressure due to elections in 2018 - which SECMC CEO has stated in many
media talks and interviews); they pushed GoS for completion of the task as soon as
possible so that they can initially dispose-off mining water at the nearest site and extract
coal for power generation in 2018 through at least one unit of 330 MW in the system. GoS
asked SECMC to complete the task on their own and promised to reimburse the cost.
Pak Oasis Company (GoS hired contractor) is continuing their work on Dhukar Chho site
as it has been already awarded a contract of 50 cusecs effluent channel and pond.
Additionally, SECMC engaged Balochistan Construction Company on Govt.s behalf (to
avoid amenabilities of Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and
other protocols) to construct another effluent channel along with a pond at Gorrano site.
The reasons why SECMC chose this area, include
-

Cost saving as well as time

Out of 1500 acres they are supposed to pay for 532 acres (with local land
acquisition offices cooperation?)
There are sand dunes on 03 sides and on only one side they have to construct the
wall again, the cost effectiveness factor

As a result of hurry and cost saving SECMC management has put itself on a path where
managers and leaders are not only damaging the rapport and trust with community and
masses but also violating the human rights and degrading the environment. If GoS had
to execute this project, they should have followed their own set procedure but now they
are getting themselves excluded from this scheme and SECMC is facing the
consequences on ground. SECMC management also used false grounds their claims

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of having ESIA and conducting public hearing etc. have no sound grounds. Even they
started construction and pipes laying down in May 2016 but land acquisition process and
other formalities they started fulfilling in August 2016 onwards (what community claims
and they shared with media as well as in the court of law). Such adv/notice appeared in
newspaper and extract is attached herewith as annex-B.
The language used by CEO of Engro (refer annex-C) is threatening and hurting for
indigenous people who are protesting against the wrongdoings of company. He stated in
a press conference on Dec 18, 2016 that I dont want to repeat the Sui case! Army is
with me and I can call for security! There isnt a single home being affected! Protestors
and supporting civil society members are anti-development, anti-Thar and anti-Pakistan
etc. That has been reported in the national press. CEO and COO of Engro also wrote
columns in widely read Sindhi newspapers and which articles were highly criticized by
different stakeholders.
SECMC/GoS never shared the ESIA report of Gorrano effluent pond and data shared by
companys authorities on different occasions dont match/not giving clear picture.
Additionally, SECMC never shared CSR policy, HR policy and development plan for area.
They formed Thar Foundation to utilize the CSR/obligatory funds that also has not a
clear plan, issue is being politicized and company wants to suppress the voice of
community.
SECMC and GoS have no resettlement plan for direct or indirect affected
villages/population and even no compensation is made against the land used, crop
damaged and trees cut down during laying down pipeline and movement of vehicles for
constructing the effluent channel and pond. A single metallic road connects more than 20
villages to Islamkot is also being disconnected as it falls in pond area.
Community foresees that
-

SECMC is a for-profit company and exploiting the rights of indigenous people,

so this is being condemned.
Environmental degradation due to storage of effluent water
Contamination of underground water as well as land degradation
No prosperous future becoming landless and disconnected from native land
Threat to their indigenous culture, tradition and values.

In face of all these happenings on ground, community protests have crossed 60 days
at press club Islamkot and there are around 15-20 families (women, male and children).
They have approached Sindh High Court but still the petition is not admitted!!
Local civil society (majority) is also supporting the villagers/community.

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Way forward
-

There is alternate available to dispose-off the water salt lakes nearby Runn
of Kutch. This option is also suggested by Haigler Bailly in its ESIA report (refer
table above). As there is no dense population so, there can be some more
alternate sites around the salt lakes.
These lakes/natural depressions are not of any use and saltish soil is there.
The positive can be the new wetlands after disposal of demining water.
There is an option to utilize the dragged out water from pits for irrigation in (area
towards east-south preferably and south also) belt is possible but again
resources will be required and only Govt. can plan such mega project. For
effluent of power houses/brine water the evaporation ponds be developed in
with lined/seepage proof/controlling mechanism.
According to SECMC consultant (RWE) and GoS consultant NED/EA, an
option may be the re-infiltration of the effluent into the related underground
water (3rd layer) far away from the mine drainage take-outs.
For remedial actions, SECMC should stop the work at Gorrano site
immediately, expedite work at Dhukkar Chho site which is only 7-8 Kilometers
away from Gorrano and already have an approved EIA with hydrological model.
In the meanwhile, SECMC/GoS should conduct Rapid Environmental and
Social Impacts Assessments of salt lakes already recommended by their
consultants.
We are not against the development, but against destruction!

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Annex A

Map Shows Villages and Dug Wells to be Affected

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Annex- B

Notice Appeared in Newspaper about Land Acquisition

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Annex-C
Engro Stance & Misguiding

SECMC is cutting all the trees (including those which are listed as Threatened
Species according to the IUCN Red List) in the path and pond area in a desert
where trees are blessings and considered as lives of indigenous people,
livestock and wild life.

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