Thar Coal Extraction
Background, current status, and community impact of Pakistan's largest lignite coal project
Background
Tharparkar's desert holds one of the world's largest lignite coal reserves — estimated at 175–200 billion tonnes, spread across over 9,000 sq km. The coal deposits lie 150–200 metres underground and were formally identified in the 1990s.
The Sindh Coal Authority (SCA) divided the coalfield into 12 numbered blocks. Under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework, Block II (Engro/SECMC) was the first to begin commercial extraction, followed by Block I under Shanghai Electric Power. By 2023, satellite imagery showed mining spanning over 32 square kilometres.
Framed as a solution to Pakistan's energy crisis, the project has been experienced by Tharparkar's communities primarily as displacement, water loss, and ecological destruction — with almost no revenue returned locally.
Key Facts
Coal Block Status
Recorded Environmental & Human Damage
Groundwater Depletion
Mining operations extract massive volumes of groundwater to access coal seams, lowering the water table. Community wells are becoming saline and unreachable.
Air Pollution & Respiratory Illness
Coal plants release SO₂, NOₓ, and particulate matter. Open-pit mining spreads dust across surrounding villages. Respiratory illness rates are rising near mine sites.
9 Villages Cleared — Block I
Nine villages (1,013 households, ~7,566 people) were displaced for Block I. No formal Resettlement & Rehabilitation Policy published. Compensation disputes remain unresolved.
"We were told coal would bring prosperity to Thar. Instead, our wells have dried, our animals are sick, and our children breathe dust. We were never consulted — we were simply moved."
— Resident of displacement-affected village, Thar Block I area
The Thar Coal Railway Project
A 105-km freight railway from Islamkot to Chhor — coal transport infrastructure with severe environmental and community consequences
Project Background
To transport coal from the Thar coalfields to power plants and the national grid, the government approved a dedicated freight railway linking Islamkot (at the coalfield) to New Chhor in Umerkot district, connecting to the existing Pakistan Railways network. The route passes through Bitra and Chachro.
Pakistan Railways was granted acquisition of 1,381 acres of land — 720 acres in Umerkot and 661 acres in Tharparkar. The cost was split between federal and Sindh governments. The EIA for the project has been widely criticised as inadequate, acknowledging it "lacks depth in addressing how the railway project might exacerbate or mitigate existing vulnerabilities, particularly of landless and women-headed households."
Communities along the 105-km corridor were not meaningfully consulted prior to land acquisition. Many have no formal land titles, making legal recourse nearly impossible.
Project Specs
Damage & Community Concerns
Coal Dust Along Entire Corridor
Open wagons transporting coal deposit fine dust particles on homes, farms, and water sources across 105 km — from Tharparkar through Umerkot. Respiratory disease risk increases significantly for all communities along the route.
Deforestation & Habitat Loss
The railway corridor cuts through ecologically fragile Thar desert, clearing vegetation, disrupting wildlife corridors, and fragmenting grazing land that pastoral communities have depended on for generations.
Land Acquisition Without Adequate Compensation
The EIA acknowledges the project's failure to account for landless families and women-headed households. Most affected communities have no formal title, making legal recourse nearly impossible.
Groundwater Contamination Risk
Pyrite in transported coal reacts with air and water to form sulfuric acid that leaches into soil and groundwater. In a region dependent on groundwater as its primary water source, this poses a serious long-term health crisis.
TCF's Position
TCF's 14-point Charter of Environmental Justice demands a comprehensive, independent Environmental and Social Impact Assessment before construction proceeds. TCF calls for mandatory public consultations with affected communities, fair and transparent compensation, and the installation of enclosed wagons to prevent coal dust dispersal along the corridor.
"The railway will pass through our fields, our water, our way of life. They say it brings progress. We ask: progress for whom? We were not asked. We were not told. We were simply moved aside."
— Community member along the proposed Islamkot–Chhor railway corridor
Karoonjhar Mountain — Granite Quarrying Crisis
A sacred 19-km granite range in Nagarparkar — the only hills in all of Sindh — facing industrial quarrying, dynamite blasting, and destruction of ancient Hindu and Jain heritage sites
Background
The Karoonjhar range — also written as Karonjhar — is a chain of ancient granite hills rising from the flat Thar desert near Nagarparkar, in Tharparkar's southeast. They are the only hills in the entire province of Sindh. The range stretches approximately 19 km in length and reaches about 305 metres in height. For Tharparkar's Hindu and Jain communities, Karoonjhar is not merely a landscape — it is a place of profound spiritual significance, home to approximately 108 ancient temples and worship sites, some dating back centuries. Pilgrims travel from across Pakistan and India to visit shrines nestled within the hills.
Commercial granite quarrying at Karoonjhar began in the late 1980s. The first contract was awarded to Millrock in 1988. By 1990, Pak Rock had entered, and over subsequent years the Sindh Government issued leases to a range of private companies — including Kohinoor Marbles Industries, Haji Abdul Qudoos Rajer, and the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) — covering thousands of acres. In July 2023 alone, bids were invited for 17 slots covering approximately 5,928 acres of the Karoonjhar range.
Karoonjhar contains an estimated 15.86 billion tonnes of granite — grey granite (11.81 billion t), pink granite (3.81 billion t), and adamellite (240 million t). This enormous commercial value has driven repeated attempts by the provincial government and private interests to expand quarrying, in direct conflict with cultural heritage law, wildlife protection orders, and community rights.
Key Facts
Recorded Damage
Destruction of Sacred Sites
Dynamite blasting for granite extraction has damaged the hillsides on which ancient temples stand. Vibrations from blasting have cracked temple walls and altered the landscape around pilgrimage routes. The hills have been leased without consultation with Hindu and Jain communities whose religious identity is tied to these sites.
Ecological Destruction
Karoonjhar forms part of the Runn of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary, a legally protected habitat under the Sindh Wildlife Act 2010. Quarrying has destroyed unique flora, driven away wildlife, and generated quarry dust that has contaminated nearby water sources and farmland — affecting communities in Nagarparkar who rely on the hills for shade, water catchment, and grazing.
Community Dispossession
Hundreds of families in Nagarparkar live in the shadow of the hills and derive their livelihoods from the area's cultural tourism, stone artisanship, and agriculture. Industrial quarrying has destroyed these livelihoods without any compensation or employment alternatives. The revenue from granite extraction has flowed exclusively to Karachi-based companies and government contractors.
Legal Case Updates
Live — Updated as developments occurThe Sindh Cabinet formally approved designating Karoonjhar as a cultural heritage site and wildlife sanctuary — aligning with conservation efforts. Simultaneously, the Cabinet designated the nearby Khasar area for granite mining as an alternative, conditional on forest and wildlife clearances. Activists and legal counsel contested this designation as violating prior judicial orders.
The SHC declared the entire Karoonjhar range a protected monument under the Sindh Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Act, 1994. The court ruled the Mines & Minerals Department does not have jurisdiction over the hills and prohibited all excavation except for archaeological work conducted under international guidelines. This order followed an August 2023 stay on mineral extraction.
The Sindh High Court issued an emergency stay prohibiting the Mines Department from cutting or removing any resources from Karoonjhar hills. The order followed an emergency petition filed by lawyers and civil society groups — including the Thar Lawyers Forum — after satellite imagery confirmed active blasting was taking place in protected zones near temple complexes.
A civil court directed police to stop the transportation of granite from Karoonjhar Mountains and banned all extraction activity from the hills pending legal resolution. The ban was later contested by mining-licence holders who appealed to higher courts, resulting in the matter being escalated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan where it remains pending.
This section is updated as new legal filings, court notices, and case developments emerge. Notices and case images will be added here.
TCF's Position
TCF's Charter of Environmental Justice explicitly demands the complete protection of Karoonjhar from unregulated mining. TCF supports full enforcement of the SHC October 2023 heritage declaration, prosecution of lease-holders who violated protected status, and the immediate suspension of any pending lease bids or Khasar-area extraction pending independent environmental and heritage review. TCF further demands that granite quarrying revenues already extracted be partially returned as a community development fund for Nagarparkar.
TCF's Initiatives
From the Thar Climate March to legal advising and rights advocacy, from the Climate Education programme to the Strategic Advocacy Plan — TCF's initiatives span every lever available to a citizen-led movement.
One platform. Every lever of change.
TCF operates across legal, media, legislative, community, and educational channels simultaneously — because Tharparkar's challenges require all of them.
Be Part of the Movement
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