RAWALPINDI: The district environment department has started a survey in Murree to check illegal constructions that pose a threat to the environment of the hilly resort station.

The action has been initiated only after the Supreme Court sought a report on housing societies and commercial plazas in Murree and the waste they generated which ultimately ended up in drinking water reservoirs such as Rawal Lake.

A senior official of the Punjab Environment Protection Agency (Punjab-EPA) told Dawn that the apex court had directed the provincial government and the EPA to submit the report next month.

The court sought the report to ascertain the number of housing societies and commercial plazas in the resort town and how they handled their sewage.

When the Punjab-EPA sought details from the district environment department the latter had no such data. As a result, the provincial environment watchdog directed the district department to conduct a survey and furnish a report within two weeks.

Environment dept to prepare a report for submission to Supreme Court next month

The official said the environment department was facing a shortage of staff and all its six to seven employees were engaged in the anti-dengue campaign launched by the city district government Rawalpindi.

He said two teams had been formed to visit Murree to conduct the survey.

“The teams will check whether the housing schemes fulfilled the basic requirement of handling the waste and had obtained no-objection certificates from the environment department before getting themselves registered with the Town Municipal Administration or not.”

He said during the last two years, the environment department also failed to prepare a report on noise and air pollution in the city areas. “The last survey was conducted in 2014 before the construction of the metro bus elevated road and a public hearing was held in this regard.” He said the environment department also had no data on the housing schemes that failed to establish sewage treatment plants and were releasing untreated waste into Leh Nullah.

“It is the responsibility of the Rawalpindi Development Authority and the district environment department to ensure that the private housing societies fulfilled the requirement,” he said.

When contacted, District Officer Environment Azhar Iqbal confirmed that the survey on illegal constructions and housing societies had been launched in Murree to submit a report to the Supreme Court next month.

He said there was no data available with the department regarding the questions raised by the apex court so EPA had asked for the survey.

He said the report would be submitted to Punjab-EPA within two weeks. “The environment department is working to eliminate dengue mosquitoes in the city areas and has now started its original work,” he said.

Published in Dawn November 21st, 2016