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Sindhi Pages

 
 
 

Some Basic Facts

Thar region has a geographical area of about 22000 sq.km. , and according to 1981 Census 0.6 m people were living in it. The livestock population is 1.5 m. Average annual rainfall ranges between 200 to 350 mm. It is revealed from studies that Thar has been formed in recent geological times. Due to blowing of sand, silt, salt and shells from the sea through Runn of Kutch by southwestern wind .The sand hills formed by these winds rise upto 100 meters height and in some places and lie southwest to north east. These sand dunes are higher in the west and north -west and are smaller to the further east.

The major portion of Thar region excluding a part of Nagarparkar as known as Parkar , has these high sand dunes which low valleys of fertile lands, in which is don rain water. The Parkar area of Nagarparkar has a rock out crop in the center having an altitude of 400 meters which is known as Karoonjhar Hills. Hill is surrounded by plain valley of about 50,000 hectares containing alluvial deposits with granite out crop at some places. The whole Parkar area has garnet layers at the depths varying from 15 to 25 meters. The alluvial deposits contain upper layer of fertile soil having high clay and silt in it. Due to Better average annual rain fall in Nagarparkar which reaches 350 mm , the recharge of shallow ground water is quite high making the shallow wells feasible for irrigation purposes on small scale.

The shallow ground water in major portion of the area is fresh and fit for irrigation. The area has been recently connected with national electric grid system . Cost of diesel engine pumping set is exorbitant. Large scale pumping could never have been made from the wells. Irrigated crops like wheat and vegetable are grown on small-scale lifting water from the wells, using animate power sources. The area is well known for castor cultivation on rainwater. Thar does not have supply of canal water for agricultural purposes.To explore the possibilities of achieving ground water in quality and quantity this small project has been taken for study.

Basic Data

Thar area: 22000 sq. km.
Population: 0.6 m
Population density: 27
Income per capita: 50
Livestock: 1.5 m
Rainfall: 200 - 350 mm.
Villages over 1000 pop: 51
Villages over 1000 pop: 241

Site developed by Sustainable Development Networking Programme, Pakistan in collaboration with IUCN NGO Unit.