LAHORE: The Environment Protection Department (EPD) on Friday extended the deadline for the sugar mills to adopt measures to control pollution.

The decision was taken at a meeting between officials of the EPD and the Punjab Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) to discuss the issues of smog and wastewater.

The meeting chaired by EPD Secretary Dr Zafar Nasrullah and the chairperson of the sugar mills association also talked about possible solutions to the smog.

Dr Nasrullah said the sugar industry was one of the major foreign exchange earners. “It is also a green industry which uses non fossil fuels to run,” he said.

He said the government was not against any businesses but the fact was that it’s time to sensitize those associated with this industry and to highlight the issues of pollution. He said the EPD wanted the sugar mills’ owners to re-examine their methods of disposing of their waste products.

He also said the owners should communicate with the EPD for technical assistance and come up with a detailed plan where they must highlight the size of their mill, the requirements, and any other issues they may be facing in installing scrubbers or any other machinery for waste gases.

“I am setting Nov 10 as a deadline for this plan to reach us so that things can be decided and we can forward the details to our district officers,” said Dr Nasrullah.

“Every mill will have a different time frame to establish this equipment keeping in consideration their size, logistics and financial dispositions,” he said. “However once the plan is decided and owners give us a reasonable deadline themselves, we will take that into consideration. After that date we will take strict measures because a commitment should be respected.”

He said the deadlines should be reasonable because the EPD could not give indefinite time for implementation. He also said that an assurance letter would be needed from the owners along with each plan.

Earlier on Sept 17 last, the secretary had given a deadline to the sugar mills’ owners to install scrubbers and other equipment by Oct 20.

Members of the association suggested that there should be a standardised plan so that everyone could know what was required.

The EPD secretary said they would soon bring out a manual for basic criteria, equipment needed and that available in the market, and an analysis of which system would be most efficient.

He said wet and dry scrubber was 95 to 99 per cent efficient and it cost much less than other methods’ expenditure.

As for water pollution, he said, it was essential that the owners know that they must now begin to conserve water, preferably recycle it because water was now a precious commodity.

Dr Nasrullah said he would ensure that no team member of the EPD was involved in any kind of blackmailing. “No one will have an attitude of policing,” he said.

Nauman Ahmed Khan, chairperson of the PSMA, thanked the EPD and said environmental impact must be reduced for upcoming generations.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018