HYDERABAD: The Supreme Court-mandated commission on water and sanitation in Sindh on Thursday expressed its shock over conversion of industrial plots into commercial and sought explanation from Sindh secretary of industries, who was chairman of the board of Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE), and SITE’s managing director.

The one-man commission headed by retired Justice Amir Hani Muslim ordered that Sindh chief secretary and secretary of local government would also be in attendance when secretary of industries and MD SITE appear before the commission on Aug 16 to explain whether power of conversion of plot from industrial to commercial rested with the board and/or the SITE which was a registered company.

He directed the MD of SITE to provide a list of plots whose conversion had been approved. Likewise, he said, director general of Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) would appear before the commission along with directors of different zones to justify how could they approve construction of commercial project on an industrial plot and whether prior permission of civic agencies was obtained.

He directed the DG to bring a list of industrial plots converted into commercial plots with concept plan.

Justice Muslim passed the directives during his visits to Kotri and Hyderabad SITE area during which he also issued notices to owners of industries in Kotri that had not installed treatment plants or septic tanks asking them to appear before the commission on Aug 15.

The judge accompanied by chairman of task force Jamal Mustafa Syed, registrar Ghulam Mustafa Channa and others was informed that there were 103 industries in Kotri of which 78 were functional. Treatment plants were installed in eight industries and 16 industries had septic tanks.

He directed the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) to provide a list of industries according to which 25 were non-functional for they were either closed or sick.

He ordered SITE to remove debris dumped across roads or on the roadsides within 15 days and asked Jamshoro deputy commissioner to oversee the exercise.

A resident of the area, Usman Rajar, reminded the judge that the compensation ordered by him on March 20, 2018 had not yet been paid by Jamshoro Power Company Limited (JPCL), prompting him to direct chief executive officer (CEO) of JPCL to appear before the commission on Aug 15 along with explanation.

He sought comments in this connection from federal secretary energy as well. Bolhari municipal committee vice chairman Mohammad Saleem Tahir volunteered to provide tractors and trolleys for the removal of debris and garbage on the condition SITE bore cost of fuel and provided human resources. MD SITE promised to do the needful.

The judge visited the site of water supply scheme in Kotri and expressed dissatisfaction over state of cleanliness in the town which was found littered with heaps of garbage. He directed chief municipal officer to clean the entire town within that day and asked judicial magistrate Ali Raza Khan to monitor it.

MD of Kotri SITE informed the commission that the roads were damaged because of gravel-laden trucks. The commission said that Jamshoro SSP would set up a picket to stop entry of trucks into SITE area.

In Hyderabad’s SITE, MD and Sepa’s deputy director said that out of 311 industries, 229 were functional, warehouses and pumps existed on 38 plots while 44 industries were declared sick.

Justice Muslim directed Sepa officer to visit all industries and submit a report about treatment plants or septic tanks.

On complaints about Sheikh Rehan village water supply scheme in Hyderabad and water shortage, the judge asked chairman of task force to take up the issue and ensure the scheme received its due share of water.

He asked the DC to find out which company installed reverse osmosis plant in the village and submit a report about the plant whose membrane needed to be replaced.

The commission called for expediting the process of approval of project cost of Eastern Sewerage Treatment Plant (ESTP) to avoid discharge of 12 cusec of effluent and waste water into freshwater bodies.

It said that it could be checked only when ESTP was completed at an early date to save human lives suffering from ailments caused by the consumption of contaminated water.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2018

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