SC orders ministry to take action: Polluting industries
By Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD, Jan 22: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the environment ministry to act against all industrial units found polluting the federal capital’s environment.
A nine-member bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, which issued the order however said the ministry should act through the environment tribunal.
The order was issued on an application from Nazir Ahmed and other residents of Sectors I-9 and I-10 inviting the attention of the apex court to the health hazards industrial units were spewing out.
The applicants complained that the residents of the area had become chronic patients of life threatening diseases like asthma, respiratory infections, allergies and heart diseases due to the pollution caused by the industries, especially the steel furnaces and marble units in their areas.
The bench instructed the ministry of environment to submit a detailed report on the situation after consulting advocates general of the four provinces.
Around 500 factories operating in the I-9 and I-10 industrial estates of the capital city are responsible for water and air pollution in the area. Of them, 204 are manufacturing units like steel furnaces, ghee/oil mills, soap, chemical, plastic, marble, spices and printing, which either lack or have inadequate facilities for treatment of industrial waste.
Reportedly, 1,500 tones of effluents generated by the pharmaceutical industry, flour mills, oil and ghee mills, marble factories and plastic extrusion mills are being thrown into the Leh nullah every day, thus heavily polluting the underground water reservoir.
In December last, the court had asked the Pakistan Environmental Agency (Pepa) director-general Asif Shujah to conduct an extensive survey and ascertain whether the provisions of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997 were being complied with by the industrial units in sectors I-9 and I-10.
When the case was taken up on Monday, Mr Shujah was not present in the court room and the chief justice summoned him to submit the report.
Later, the official appeared before the court and submitted his report, stating that eight types of industries located in the industrial area of the federal capital had been served notices for creating pollution.
However, he said, these units had pledged to meet the environmental criteria, adding that in case of failure the industries would be closed down. In addition, there are nine sewerage channels in the area which have become much polluted.
However, the chief justice admonished the DG for his poor performance and observed that because of polluted water people were getting sick in the area. Garbage dumps are seen at various places in the capital, he said and rejected the survey report of the Pepa chief.
The bench directed the director-general to take action against the violators under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997.
Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Nasir Saeed Sheikh told the bench that environmental tribunals had been made functional in the Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan with the appointments of chairpersons and members, while a summary for establishing the tribunals in Sindh was pending approval by the prime minister.
The bench, however, asked the officials concerned to complete the process in two weeks, and adjourned the case till February 19.
