Thar Voice Forum - Thar Coal Context December 25, 2016 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 anyinformation on the S-ESIA from GoS till date

 

Thar Voice Forum

 - Thar Coal Context December 25, 2016

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 anyinformation on the S-ESIA from GoS till date.

Resettlement Issues

Initially, GoS acquired 6,000 acre (24 square kilometers) land for the company withouthaving resettlement action plan in place. The civil society activists and local peoplesraised their concerns through different forums and proposed recommendations forresettlement 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 ofresettling the indigenous people living on 9100 sq. km coal field area. This is a seriousquestion mark on the capacity, vision and will of political leadership who are so ignorantof such a big issue. Thus the whole resettlement plan was deliberately overlooked tobenefit the corporation.The reasons of lying emphasis on the resettlement plan being that it will cause potentialrisks including landlessness, joblessness, homelessness, marginalization, foodinsecurity, loss of access to common property resources, morbidity and socialdisarticulation.Despite all the misdemeanors during road and airport construction and allotment of BlockII and Block V lands, the people of Thar being simpleton, sincere and hospitablewelcomed SECMC and other companies with open arms who told the overjoyed peopleof Thar that their lot is about to improve exponentially. But over the years it appears thatall the development mantra was and is geared to exploit, displace and destroy the livesof 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 establishedin Block II was conducted by Hagler Bailly Pakistan and this document has 2 volumes:http://engropowergen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/PDF/R2M03THP-Final_Report-ESIA_of_Thar_Coal_Block_II_Mining.pdf 

 

http://engropowergen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/PDF/R2M03THP-The_Appendices-ESIA_of_Thar_Coal_Block_II_Mining_Pr.pdfThe scope of ESIA does not cover activities that are to be undertaken by the GoSincluding development of access road from Badin to Islamkot, construction of water

 

Thar Voice Forum

 - Thar Coal Context December 25, 2016

supply channel, installation of pipeline and associated infrastructure, and supply of waterand 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 firstlayer/aquifer (above the coal) need to be dragged out.

 As per Haigler Bailly’s ESIA report,

surface water and groundwater inflows into the mine pit have been estimated. The minepit will be dewatered through the use of submersible pumps installed in sumps at the baseof the open pit. The rate of disposal has been estimated at 990 liters per second (l/s). Acomplete dewatering system will be used to lower the groundwater table to avoid theinfluence during mining activity. For this purpose 28 dewatering wells would be installedinitially around the proposed pit. Shifting of the mining pit will necessitate the addition ofthe four new wells every two years and the shifting of the some of the existing wells. Theeffluent water from the wells will be collected through a network of pipes to a main sumpfrom 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 consequencesand suggestions for disposal of dewatering water or effluent disposal are discussed:

OPTION POSITIVE NEGATIVE COMMENTS

Rann ofKutchCould beeconomically thebest optionImpacts on wetlandand possibletransboundaryissuesNot considered feasible dueto technical reasonsLBOD Increaseddownstreamimpacts.Higher cost due topumpingrequirements tohigher elevationsNot considered feasible dueto technical and economicreasonsEvaporationPondPossible creationof new wetlandsVery large landrequirements tohigher elevationsNot considered feasible dueto social and economicreasonsReinjection Maintains overallwater balancePossible conflictswithin communitiesPossible adverseimpacts on miningactivitiesNot considered feasible dueto technical reasonsDisposal tosalt lakesPossibleimprovement inwetlands- GoS considers this as thepreferred option

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

 

Thar Voice Forum

 - Thar Coal Context December 25, 2016

(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 around34 kilometers).