Coal mining brings a water crisis to the Thar desert
 
Earthwisepk · Kacheri (EP-01) : Coal mining brings a water crisis to the Thar desert

As coal mining began in Thar, so did the pollution of its underground water sources. Water pumped out from the mines is deposited in reservoirs near villages, this water taken out from deep beneath the desert, from layers of coal is often toxic and high in salinity.

Now locals fear, it has polluted the fresh water sources as well and made the water in their underground wells unfit for drinking. In this podcast we speak to locals from Thar who want to preserve a scarce resource in the great desert.

In this podcast we look at possible solutions.

 

Deadly lightning strikes have risen in tandem with coal development in Tharparkar
 
Earthwisepk · Kacheri (EP-02): Deadly lightning strikes have risen in tandem with coal development in Tharparkar

Rain has always been a symbol of life in the arid land of Tharparkar but thunder and lightning accompanying it have become a source of permanent fear among its residents now. In recent years, lightning strikes have taken dozens of lives besides destroying crops and killing animals at a large scale.

In this episode of our podcast, Earthwise reports how local residents link these lightning strikes with coal development.

 

Where there is coal, there is also the fear of displacement
 

 

For generations, the inhabitants of Thar have lived in harmony with nature — spending their lives in chaunras or rooms made of mud, straw, and wood. That harmony, however, is being seriously undermined by coal development now.
In this episode of our podcast, we record the fears, frustrations and anger of the residents of Thario Halepoto, a village overshadowed  by Pakistan’s larger coal mine located in Tharparkar district, over their impending displacement from their traditional abodes.

 

Coal creates a burden of disease that no one is talking about
 

 

Tharis are resilient people. They have survived harsh weather and hard terrain for centuries. With the advent of coal development around their villages, however, they are facing a new menace: ever-rising health hazards.

This episode of Kacheri documents how women, children and older people in village after village are suffering from respiratory and skin diseases they never knew before. Cancer cases are also being reported from many villages even though local people were unfamiliar with it until recently. This, they allege, is happening to them because coal has contaminated their water and poisoned their air.