Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) has deposited Rs12 billion in royalty to the Sindh government accounts and paid Rs 8 billion to the shareholders of the company- which means the government and the displaced persons who are paid Rs100,000 annually.
This was disclosed in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Maqbool Baqar at the SECMC office, Islamkot on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Energy Rehan Baloch, Secretary Health Dr Mansoor Rizvi, Secretary Irrigation Niaz Abbasi, and Chairman SECM Commissioner Yousif Siddiue. The CM said that he has witnessed the operation of two power plants: the 1320 MW Shinghai Power Plant at Thar Coal Block-I and 1320 MW the Sindh Engro Coal Power Plant at Thar Coal Block-II, producing and adding more than 2640 MW to the National Grid.
Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company: CEO of SECMC Yousif Siddiqui briefing the chief minister said that Thar Coal Block-II has reservoirs of 175 billion tons of coals. The SECM is exploiting 7.6 million tons of coal every year to produce clean and cheap electricity. The CM was told that Thar Coal Block-II was producing 1320 MW.
It was pointed out that 70 per cent of the total employees of the plant and mine were local. The CEO told the CM that Thar Foundation was running 23 schools where 5000 students were receiving education, of them 33 percent were girls.
Thar Foundation has five health centres with a facility of mobile clinics that have provided medical treatment to more than 60,000 people in the area. Apart from health centres, the Thar Foundation has 17 RO plants in the Gorano area which provide drinking water to the people.
CEO Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) told the CM that the SECMC in which the Sindh govt owns majority shares has deposited Rs12 billion in royalty to the Sindh government accounts and paid Rs8 billion to the shareholders of the company- the Sindh government and the displaced persons who are paid Rs100,000 annually and have been accommodated ina Model villages.
The chief minister, after the meeting, visited the Thar Block-II mine and witnessed mining activity. He met with women dumper drivers, interacted with them, and encouraged them to work shoulder-to-shoulder with men.
“You have broken the myth of the society in which it was believed that women could not drive loaders and truckers, but you have proved,” he said and encouraged them to bring other women of Thar to the field.
Justice Baqar went to visit a school of Thar Coal Foundation where he enjoyed the company of pre-nursery children. The CM not only heard the poems the children had remembered by heart but also played with them on the mat and enjoyed their company.
