Fishy projects

The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) and the Save Coast Action Committee, Badin, recently organised a token one-day hunger strike in front of Karachi Press Club to protest the loss of livelihood and ecological harm caused by mega drainage projects like the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) project and the National Drainage Programme (NDP). A large number of fisherfolk, including women, participated in the agitation.

PFF chairperson Mohammed Ali Shah told mediapersons that the disposal of saline effluents in the LBOD system would cause flooding and displace fisherfolk. More than 50 villages will be in permanent threat of flooding if the existing LBOD drains are expanded further, warned Khuda Ganj Baloch, PFF information secretary. Baloch also alleged that the government had not made the details of the NDP and its environmental assessments public. "More than 30 people died due to overflowing, breaches and sea intrusion in 2003. Thousands of houses were damaged and thousands of acres of agriculture crops were destroyed," said Saeed Baloch, secretary, PFF.