PESHAWAR, May 30: The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed its willingness to undertake a survey and prepare precautionary measures to ensure environmental health of the people living along the two main rivers and industrial zones in the NWFP.

The two rivers are Swat and Panjkora in Dir, while the industrial zones include the Hattar Industrial Estate and surrounding localities of Khazana Sugar Mills near Peshawar, said an official statement on Friday.

The health body will also take steps with the provincial government’s support to check the causes of ground, air and water pollution in these areas.

A decision to this effect was taken during the meeting of the visiting WHO mission on environmental health with senior provincial minister Sirajul Haq here on Friday. The mission team was led by Dr Zulfiqar Ali Khan, coordinator EMRO, the group of WHO on 23 eastern Mediterranean countries.

Sirajul Haq said awareness for environmental health as well as practical steps were equally important but it was unfortunate that most of the seminars and workshops for welfare of masses, specially the poor segments of society, were arranged at big hotels with meagre representation of the poor, which, he termed, a wastage of funds.

He said the government had banned holding of all such functions at hotels and directives had been issued to organize seminars and workshops at government-owned halls to reduce spendings on them.

Similarly, he said, the provincial government had also asked the NGOs to hold their programmes and seminars in a simple way, instead of arranging them at big hotels, so that the amount saved could be spent on establishment of schools, dispensaries and other public utility projects.

The senior minister, while appreciating the steps of the WHO for ensuring environmental health, asked the mission to plan such measures in the NWFP which could be seen and felt by the people.

He also appealed to the mission to coordinate government efforts for improving environmental situation of the remote and mountainous areas of the province so that the people living there could also benefit from the health and hygienic facilities like those of urban and industrial areas.