KARACHI, May 21: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with other environment conservation organizations, is holding a series of workshops for the orientation of environmental magistrates in the province, during this month.

The workshops are aimed at sensitizing all the first class judicial magistrates of each district, who were notified as environmental magistrates in 1999, an EPA official says.

Under sections of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA), 1997, the environmental magistrates were authorized for “handling of hazardous substances” and “regulation of motor vehicles”, besides imposing judicial penalties for failure to comply with licenses and orders of the federal and provincial environmental protection agencies, and the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council, the official added.

Despite passage of considerable time and the growing concern among people, regarding environmental issues, the launching of EMs was still awaited, said a conservation NGO’s representative.

Keeping in view that the government had also notified the establishment of Environmental Tribunals, it would be proper that the first judicial magistrates should also start acting as EMs as well, so that the cases, taken up by them, could also be referred to the ET, if needed, the NGO worker added.

The EPA, IUCN, Programme for Environmental Research and Training and the PAkistan Environmental Lawyers Association are jointly holding the workshops at Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur on May 22, May 26 and May 28, respectively.

About 30 magistrates from different districts, as nominated by the chief justice of the Sindh High Court, will be participating in the workshops. At Karachi, the workshop will be held at NIPA, where in the Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister (on environment), M Faisal Malik, and the Provincial Ombudsman, Justice (R) Haziqul Khairi, will be chief guests at the opening and concluding sessions.

The workshop at Hyderabad will be inaugurated by Nazim of the city, Dr Makhdoom Rafique Zaman, while the secretary, Environment and Alternate Energy, Sindh, M Aslam Sanjrani, will give away the certificates to the participants, at Shahbaz Hall.

At Sukkur, the workshop will be held at the District Council Hall on May 28. Zila Nazim Nasir Hussain Shah will inaugurate the event, while Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro of the SHC, Sukkur Bench, will be chief guest at the concluding session.