LAHORE: The Punjab Environment Protection Department (EPD) has devolved its major functions to the divisional level to help people get environmental approvals of their projects locally or file complaints against any pollution causing outlet, confining itself to dealing with only mega projects or research and development.

The devolution has taken place through the Punjab Environmental Protection (Delegation of Powers and Environmental Approval) Rules 2017. They carry the seal of the governor.

Official sources said on Thursday the department would notify the divisional level committees under the commissioners within a fortnight.

Environmental approvals/annulments of projects to be done at local level

The EPD was created in 1997 through an act and since then it has been giving approvals to all projects or detecting pollution causing establishments by itself or on complaints from its Lahore headquarters.

Every project in the province needs an environmental-friendly certificate from the EPD and this centralised system has been forcing people to come to Lahore from far-off areas and sometimes causing delays due to workload. Now the department itself would deal with mega projects and industrial estates.

According to the rules, the divisional committees will deal with auto-repair workshops, basic health units, rural health centres and hospitals up to 50 beds, base transceiver station (BTS) towers, canal cleaning and desilting, cold storage and warehouses, commercial buildings, including apartments, shopping malls and office complexes costing more than Rs50m but up to Rs1bn (including the cost of land). They will also handle construction and lining of watercourses, roads falling within the jurisdiction of a district, except highways, expressways and motorways, controlled environment poultry and layer farms, educational institutions, establishment and operation of brick kilns, petrol pumps, CNG stations, fish farms, solid waste management, except landfills, water supply schemes, water purification plants of costing up to Rs20m, wood product manufacturing units costing up to Rs50m.

Each committee would be headed by the divisional commissioner and comprise a notified officer who shall also be its convener and an environment expert to be appointment by the EPD secretary. It will consider the environment assessment (in the prescribed manner) and, in appropriate cases, may grant environmental approval.

The chairperson (commissioner) may invite any person to attend a meeting, for any information or advice but he/she shall not have a right to vote. The committee shall meet once in a month but a meeting may be convened at any time.

The commissioner himself or through the notified officer shall regularly monitor compliance of the conditions of approval and operation of the projects.

If, at any time, the committee finds that the conditions of an approval have not been complied with or the information supplied by a proponent in the approved environment assessment is incorrect, it shall issue a show-cause notice to the proponent to explain as to why the approval may not be annulled.

The proponent shall submit reply within 15 days of the receipt of the notice. But if the reply is unsatisfactory or there is no reply, the committee after giving the proponent an opportunity of hearing may require him to take such measures or to comply with such conditions within such period of time as it may specify or annul the approval. Upon the annulment, the proponent shall forthwith stop operation of the project.

The notified officer shall maintain a register of projects and submit monthly updates to the Provincial Environmental Protection Agency which may grant environmental approval in respect of a project and after recording reasons and version of the proponent, impose conditions in addition to the conditions of approval or annul the approval (granted by the committee). The secretary of the department or the agency may call for and inspect the record pertaining to the grant of approvals.

Any person aggrieved by an order or direction of the committee or of the agency may file an appeal before the Environmental Tribunal within 30 days of the date of receipt of the direction or order.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2017