ISLAMABAD, April 8: The environment ministry is working on a project to set up 13 combined effluent treatment plants at various industrial sectors throughout the country, Minister of State for Environment Maj (retired) Tahir Iqbal told the National Assembly on Thursday.
He said due to lack of effluent treatment facilities in the industrial sector and direct disposal of industrial wastes, water resources were getting contaminated.
He referred to the increasing levels of pollution in Kabul and Indus rivers. The environment monitoring bodies have also reported increasing levels of air and water pollution all around the country over the last one decade.
He said a total of 128 units in 12 industrial sectors had already installed treatment plants. Besides, there is a combined effluent treatment plant for the tanneries in Kasur in operation. Most of the industries have adopted biological treatment but chemical treatment is used by only 30 per cent of the industries, he added.
In response to another question, the state minister said the ministry did not prescribe or grant permission to any procedure/technology for treatment process. The National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) had been notified for compliance by the industry and only NEQS prescribed maximum allowable emissions limits.
In his written reply to the National Assembly, the minister said the powers and functions of the Federal Environment Protection Agency (EPA) had been delegated to the provincial governments. However, due to resource constraints very few industries are being monitored by the provincial EPAs.
Whereas, the federal EPA has planned to launch a self- monitoring and reporting programme for industry shortly. To another query, Mr Iqbal said the technology of bio- degradable shopping bags had not yet been introduced in Pakistan. However, he said photo degradable plastic bags were being marketed on small scale. These bags, by virtue of ultraviolet rays present in sunlight, are damaged and the ministry is considering the suitability of this technology, he added.
Answering a supplementary question, he said a number of feasibility reports were under consideration to shift tanneries from the residential areas of Kasur district to the nearby industrial zone.
"Yes, the environment ministry is preparing guidelines for the 'Genetically Modified Crops (GMCs)', as it will take some time," he said. It is worth mentioning here that at present a controversy was going on over the utilization of this new technology in the agriculture sector.
Through adopting GMCs, agriculture production could be increased, but its critics were of the view that it would definitely have side-effects on the health of end-users.
