KARACHI: The Supreme Court-mandated commission on water and sanitation in Sindh on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction on a policy submitted by the provincial government regarding conversion of industrial plots into commercial ones and sought a comprehensive policy by Jan 10.

After repeated directives of the commission, provincial law officer Salman Talibuddin finally placed the policy of the Sindh government before the commission at the outset of the hearing on Wednesday.

However, the commission, headed by retired Justice Amir Hani Muslim, observed that the policy was not happily worded and needed clarity on the part of the government.

It said that the advocate general may revert back to the provincial government for a comprehensive policy in respect of the plots which had already been converted into commercial ones and the plots which were under construction with the status of commercial permission whereas the plots which had been permitted to be converted for commercial activities needed to be categorised separately.

This matter has been pending before the commission for the last several months.

Earlier, the commission had expressed serious concerns over the construction of commercial plazas on industrial plots in SITEs across the province and observed that prima facie it was against the terms and defeated the very purpose of creating industrial zones.

Meanwhile, the commission ordered that the deputy commissioner Jamshoro along with the secretary of environment and officials of a pharmaceutical company will meet the people residing within the vicinity of the company and record their statements whether or not foul or bad smell emitted from the factory.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2018