KARACHI: EPA collects samples of hazardous material
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 6: The staff of the Environment Protection Agency collected samples of the hazardous material which caused burn injuries to seven children in Orangi on Sunday.
SEPA director-general Abdul Malik Ghauri told Dawn that officers of the agency visited the site where children were injured and the industry considered responsible for the act.
He said that notices were being issued to the unit concerned under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997.
The PEPA section says no person shall discharge or emit or allow the discharge or emission of any effluent or waste or air pollution or noise in an amount, concentration or level which is in excess of the National Environmental Quality Standards or, where applicable, the standards established under some sub clause included in the Act.
Whoever contravenes or fails to comply with the said provision of the Act is liable to punishment with fine which may be extended to one million rupees.
He said chemical analysis of the samples from Rahimshah graveyard in the jurisdiction of Mominabad police would be completed in a day or so.
According to him, a meeting of the stakeholders is being held on Nov 8 with the environment minister, Dr Saghir Ahmed, in the chair on the issue of chemical and industrial wastes.
Dr Afroze Ramzan Ali, director of NICH, told Dawn that the children who were burnt by the waste and brought to the institute on Saturday night were all now stable and showing improvement. All who suffered burn injuried were out of danger now, she added.
