LAHORE, Jan 26: Advocate Syed Mansoor Ali Shah requested the Lahore High Court on Wednesday to stop the establishment of six cement plants at the picturesque Kahoon Valley of the Salt Range till such a time that the Punjab government gave a categorical assurance to the court that the plants would not adversely affect the ecology and life in the area.

Deposing before Justice Mian Hamid Farooq, the counsel submitted that the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency had not made a genuine environment impact assessment for the cement factories before issuing no-objection certificates to two companies to start setting up plants and excavating lime stone as raw material.

The counsel concluded his arguments with the plea that the court should appoint a commission of experts to make a genuine EIA of the area and the site for the proposed cement units. He requested to the court to order a status quo till the report of such a commission was received and examined by the court.

He submitted in a writ petition, moved by the Environmental Law Association, that the federal government had in a letter expressed its dissatisfaction over the EIA conducted by the Punjab Environment Protection Agency and asked for a new assessment before allowing the cement plants to come up.

The cement plants, he argued, posed a serious threat to the farming life of the residents of the valley where emission from factories would cause environmental catastrophe, damage flora and fauna and ecology of the historic area.

Advocate Mansoor submitted that the NOC issued to the cement companies by the PEPA and the notification issued by the Punjab Industries Department on Sept 9, 2002, contravened the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act.

The petition also challenged the cement projects on the grounds that district environment officers of Rawalpindi, Gujrat and Lahore had, through their reports, called the cement projects dangerous for the local ecology and the health of the people.