April 24, 2002	Wednesday	Safar 10, 1423

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KASUR, April 23: A project has been prepared to resolve the problem of poisonous effluent discharged from tanneries along the Lahore-Ferozepur Road in Kasur.

The Kasur Tanneries Pollution Control Project has been prepared with the collaboration of the UNDP and the UNIDO to combat the pollution created by over 230 tanneries in the city.

Most tanneries are located around the Kasur city and along the Kasur-Deparlpur Road. There are 12 tanneries and other industries along the Lahore-Ferozepur Road in Kasur. These units discharge untreated poisonous waste in the open or in Rohi Nullah and contaminate the underground water.

The stink has also made the lives of the residents of Vadana village miserable. People of other adjoining areas have been falling prey to different diseases because of the poisonous effluents of the tanneries and other industries.

The residents of these areas have been demanding since long that the tanneries and other industries should be shifted somewhere else. A number of inquiries have been conducted and reports submitted to the authorities concerned but no action has so far been taken against the tanneries.

The residents of the affected areas explained to the Punjab governor their problems during his visit to Kasur in February this year.

On the direction of the governor, a committee headed by Brig Ashraf Saleem, Commander of 52-Brigade, was constituted to resolve the matter. A survey was conducted and the Kasur Tannery Pollution Control Project was designed to treat 13,000 cubic metre daily in full capacity and 9,000 cubic metre on the average.

The tanneries are in Gingarh, Yunus Nagar, Niaz Nagar and Kot Molvi Abdul Qadir. Water meters have been installed by the Kasur Tannery Waste Management Agency to check their discharge and recover pollution charges from them.

The municipal waste water discharge generated along the Lahore-Ferozepur Road in Kasur is about 2,000 cubic metre daily which will be treated at the common effluent pre-treatment plant, Kasur.

The objectives of the proposed project are to provide tanneries, industries and municipal waste water collection system situated along Lahore-Ferozepur Road in Kasur, provision of common primary treatment facilities and effluent disposal system; arrangements for solid waste management system, evacuation of stagnant pools, to control underground water pollution of the area and improve sanitary conditions in Kasur.

The residents of the affected area have appealed to the district administration and other concerned high-ups to start the proposed scheme so that they could get rid of the poisonous water and other diseases created by it.

INJURED: A shopkeeper was seriously injured on Tuesday when a cylinder used to inflate balloons to welcome the Punjab governor at Pattoki exploded.

The governor, Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool (retired), who reached Phool Nagar at about 10.30am, announced that the local intermediate college will be upgraded to degree level. In Pattoki, he inaugurated a Sui Gas project and the railway overhead bridge.

The governor also spoke at public meetings at Pattoki and Phool Nagar, saying the present government had pulled the country out of serious crises.

One Muhammad Mansha, was inflating the balloons to be released on the governor’s arrival. When the cylinder burst, one Abid Ali, was injured. He was taken to Civil Hospital, Pattoki.

The governor left for Lahore at about 1.45pm. Kasur district Nazim Rana Imtiaz Ahmad, Naib Nazim Sana Khaliq Kareemi and the tehsil Nazims remained with him during the visit.