THE Pakistan government has ambitiousplans to tap coal reserves under the vastexpanses of the Thar desert, but environmentalists warn that unfettereddevelopment could do more.harm. than good. In its enthusiasm to capitalise onthe interest shown by foreign investorsin cheaply a'v'ailable coal, the government is completely ignoring environ-mental issues.
Engineers say open pit or strip mining is the only type of mining technically feasible in the region; unfortunately,they can also destroy the landscape, vegetation and habitat by s removing precious topsoil. Besides, coal-fired thermal plants are known to be among the environmentally most harmful of poweroptions.
Since a sizeable portionof the coal reserves are located below permanent humansettlements and archaeological sites, environmentalistsand conservationists fearlargescale displacement ofthe population and possibledestruction of historicalmonuments.