February 03, 2007	Saturday	Muharram 14, 1428

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LAYYAH, Feb 2: Despite a warning by the Punjab Environment Protection Agency (Pepa), the Layyah Sugar Mills administration has failed to improve its pollution-control mechanism, putting at serious risk the health of about 200,000 people living in the city and its surrounding areas.

A couple of months back, Pepa had taken a serious note of the utter neglect of environment protection rules by the mills administration, warning it of action if it failed to minimise the discharge of pollutants, which it said, might cause various ailments among the area people.

A local environment activist, Khalid Khan, alleged that no action was being taken against the mills despite clear violation of environment law as its owners were politically influential people.

According to a survey conducted by Dawn, round-the-clock functioning of sugar mills produces extremely poisonous fumes, which, along with the wind, creates an umbrella of ash which keeps on falling down. This ash was causing various diseases among the local population.

According to local medical experts, since November an upsurge was witnessed in the cases of eye ailment and skin allergy among the residents because of the pollution caused by the mills.

Meanwhile, the mills administration officer claimed that an Indian environmental expert, Mr Salujah, had been hired to suggest measures to minimise the current level of pollution being caused by the industrial unit.