January 21, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 20, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 20: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), under the provision of the Environmental Protection Act 1997, and EIA Regulations 2000 has issued notice to Javedan Cement Mills, Manghopir-Karachi for causing pollution.

SEPA Director Dr Iqbal Said Khan, talking to APP here on Friday said that responding to public complaints and MPA Taiyab Hashmi, SEPA had despatched its team of experts headed by Deputy Director (Monitoring) Ashfaq Pirzada to assess the situation.

The committee after thorough assessment of the site presented an elaborate report showing that inadequate arrangements by the cement factory in question for air filtration has caused severe atmospheric pollution.

Citizens along with their representatives had approached the Sindh Environment Department with the complaint that the factory was allegedly established in contravention to a law that industrial units must not be established in residential areas.

Responding to a question, the SEPA director said that the SEPA had expedited the pace of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of major development projects, undertaken in Sindh both by the private and public sectors respectively during the last few months.

“Major concerns including OGDC, PARCO, city governments and SSGC had approached SEPA for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of their varied projects planned to be initiated with regard to oil/gas exploration and so forth,” he elaborated.

He mentioned that projects initiated under the Sindh Rural Programme had also been referred to the agency for EIA, after doing necessary studies focussed on its environmental and ecological consequences in the areas where these would materialize.

The environmental scientist responding to another query said that SEPA could also take suo motu notice of any violation and after doing proper investigation could refer the case for legal action to the courts.

“We presently have issued notices to some of the textile, pharmaceutical and cement factories and would take legal action in due course of time,” he added.—APP