Voicing concerns: Hyderabad traders clash over lease of coal mine

Protesters claim the mine was leased to the Fateh Group but is occupied by an MPA's men

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad's business community is up in arms against the Jamshoro Police. The cause of the dispute is a coal mine, leased out to Fateh Textile Group but allegedly occupied by the men of MPA Faqirdad Khoso.

The tussle over the mine's occupation had already claimed three lives in November 2013, besides litigation in the court and the latest arrests by the police of 16 security guards on Saturday. Meanwhile, the dispute plods along.

"We want the removal of Jamshoro SSP [Tariq Wallayat] and Lakhra SHO [Zulfiqar Hyderi]. They are connivers in the illegal occupation of the mine," the traders shouted at the protest camp outside Hyderabad Press Club on Monday. Led by the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI), representatives of around 80 traders' associations of the district are said to have participated in the demonstration.

The protesters also claimed that a traders' leader, Mehmood Rajput, was threatened with death by the SHO at a recent meeting chaired by Hyderabad DIG Khadim Hussain Rind. "The provincial government should take notice and dismiss the SHO from service," they demanded. They have given two days to the provincial government, warning of a tougher reaction after the deadline.

Background

The coalfield, spread over 8,626 acres, was leased out to the Fateh group in 2006 for development of a 200-megawatt integrated mining and power project at Lakhra. The Lakhra coal mine stretches over 1,309 square kilometres.



However, the group's feasibility report for the project was rejected in 2009. Subsequently, the provincial mines and minerals department cancelled the lease, which was initially given for a period of 30 years.

But the group took the matter to the Sindh High Court and obtained a stay order in their favour, says the HCCI vice-president, Ziauddin, who is also the group director. "The government can't cancel the lease. Now only the court can decide and until the decision comes, we legally own the coalfield," he told The Express Tribune.

All along, the group continued to extradite and sell the coal in the private market. Ziauddin claims that under the agreement, they are allowed to sell the coal, in addition to its use for the power project.

In November 2013, the MPA's men allegedly occupied the land, claiming that they had obtained the lease of the coalfield from the provincial government. In the armed clash, three persons, including two relatives of the MPA, were killed. Since then, the coalfield has remained in control of Khoso, according to Seth Goharullah, the HCCI's president and head of the Fateh group.

"They are stealing coal worth millions of rupees from the mine almost daily. And the police is supporting them," he alleged. The Hyderabad DIG recently called a meeting between the two sides. But instead of resolving the dispute, it ended up fanning hostilities.

Goharullah hired the security guards of a private security company reportedly connected with the Rangers. On August 15, he sent 16 security guards to the mine to stop the alleged theft but the Jamshoro police arrested all of them.

"The police are not stopping the theft. Therefore, we sent the private security guards to do this but they were arrested," he complained. The Jamshoro SSP and the MPA were not available for their version, despite repeated attempts to contact them.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2015.