Impacts of Makhi-Farsh Link Canal on the hydrology and drainage of Thar – a community perspective

Summary

Ten years ago, the government of Sindh proposed to construct Makhi-Farash Link Canal in order to supply water to Thar coal power plants for electricity generation. The proposed Link Canal was to draw water from Farash-Makhi Canal at a place called Farash Mori in Sanghar district. Farash Mori is the point where Farash-Makhi Canal draws water from its two sources; Chotiari Dam and Nara Canal. Though Farash Makhi Canal is itself a distributary of Nara Canal but it has its own seven distributaries namely Thar Wah, Dhoronaro Shaakh, Sufi Shaakh, Sirari Shaakh, Heeral Shaakh, Disti, and Dhoro Puran.

This report tries to undertake an impact analysis of the proposed Link Canal by explaining its relationships with other water bodies of the study area, as listed above. It also tries to set the context of the proposed Link Canal project or water supply scheme by describing it in the backdrop of water scarcity in parts of the districts under study. The other aspect of this study relates with the adverse impacts these interactions might have on the communities living along and around the project area.

Local communities, based on their past experiences of engaging with governments on different projects of water supply, have repeatedly expressed their apprehensions regarding the proposed Link Canal project which is still under way despite many protest demonstrations by local residents and by those from the project area. This report, mainly based on Focused Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews held in ten villages of two districts Umerkot and Tharparkar, confirms these apprehensions held by local residents.