FOR the state, safeguarding the environment is quite obviously low on its list of priorities. However, at times, either due to the hue and cry raised by citizens, or the efforts of conscientious public servants, major environmental hazards are highlighted, after which the state scrambles to formulate a response to the problem. Two issues currently under the spotlight in Sindh are pollution of the province’s water resources and degradation of the environment by certain industries. As reported in Wednesday’s paper, a judicial commission in Sindh formed by the Supreme Court in response to an individual’s petition has ordered the relevant government departments to submit a report on the discharge of effluent by industries. According to another report, seven factories in Hyderabad’s SITE area were sealed after the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency noted that the concerns were flouting environmental protection laws.

These actions are welcome and it is hoped that state organs tasked with monitoring environmental standards remain alert. The fact is that Sindh — as well as other parts of Pakistan — suffers from high levels of pollution. For example, a recent conference held at Karachi University was told that 40pc of the Sindh capital’s population was exposed to “highly polluted air”, while 65pc of its citizens lived in areas with “elevated levels of noise pollution”. Moreover, the judicial commission, currently touring Sindh, was earlier told that the metropolis received 200 million gallons of unfiltered water daily. Matters in other parts of the province are no better; while surveying the situation in Sukkur, the commission was told that only three of 29 water treatment plants in the upper Sindh city were functional. This degraded state of the environment has both short- and long-term effects on people’s health and quality of life. It would not be enough for the state to just point out how much pollution exists; the next step should be to implement policies to bring down the level of pollution.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2017