LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly speaker has constituted a seven-member committee to review a proposal to set up more cement plants in Chakwal in the face of protests by residents and lawmakers.

Speaker Sabtain Khan has formed the special committee comprising higher education minister Yasir Humanyn (convener), ministers -- Basharat Raja, Aslam Iqbal, Abbas Ali Shah and Latif Nazar -- and MPAs Mehwish Sultana of PML-N and Ammar Yasir of PML-Q. Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, lawmaker Mehwish Sultana said the proposed establishment of more cement plants would not only leave the residents of Chakwal without water but also cause extinction to endangered species like urial.

“Protests are being held in Chakwal on a daily basis against the proposal of setting up more cement industries there. Chakwal is a beautiful place which encourages the government to make it part of tourism attraction instead of giving a freehand to industrialists to set up cement plants. Even PTI chairman Imran Khan has stressed the promotion of tourism when he talks about Chakwal,” Ms Sultana said.

The MPA expressed the hope that the PA special committee would look into these aspects and not allow even one more cement plant there.

Rights activist Chakwal Waseem Ahmed Raja has written to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Punjab head drawing its attention towards violation of its rules in setting up of previous cement plants and urged it not to issue NoC to any other cement factory for the sake of local people.

Mr Ahmed Raja said the EPA should bring forth the serious ‘negative impacts and consequences’ not only on the environment but also on the inhabitants of the area, if a single more cement plant was installed in the area. He said the proposed site for such plants was within or close to reserved forest which was an environmentally sensitive area.

“This is not for the first time substandard and unacceptable EIAs have been approved. A suo moto against the violations by the authorities concerned and the cement factories in Kahoon valley is still pending before the apex court,” he said and added the chief justice in 2017 pointed out that the department had passed EIAs (environment impact assessment) without examining them.

The environment impact assessment report furnished by the respective factories was not reviewed by the environment department which was mandatory, Mr Ahmed said and added climate change was a harsh reality as Pakistan was the seventh most vulnerable country in the world with water scarcity looming heavily on us.

“Potohar Region naturally falls in the water stress belt, there is no river or canal in the area as it depends on rainfall recharge, any project of this scale will play havoc with the area.”

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2022