0
HARIPUR, May 28: Minister of State for Environment Malik Amin Aslam said on Saturday that industrial development was unacceptable if it came at the cost of human lives and the eco-system.
Mr Aslam was speaking at a national education conference held at a government-run primary school here. The conference was organised by the Muttahida Mahaz Asatza, Pakistan (MMAP) and attended by EDO education, education department officers and leaders of teachers’ associations.
The minister took strong exception to complaints that the industrialists of Hattar Industrial Estate had been dumping untreated chemical waste into nearby streams as well as causing air pollution.
Warning such entrepreneurs of strict action, the minister asked them to install treatment plants and follow guidelines of the environmental protection agency in this regard.
“A high-level meeting is being held in Islamabad to discuss the harmful effects of industrial effluents of HIE on the environment of surrounding areas,” he said. “The meeting will recommend concrete steps that can put an end to the hazards of industrial pollution,” he added.
According to him, the government has already introduced drastic measures to lower pollution levels in the country.
To achieve the target of uniformity in the education system across the country, a comprehensive education policy is being finalised because he believed that the dual education system was a big obstacle in the country’s progress.
He said that the National Education Policy will be given constitutional protection so that it cannot be changed.
Teachers have a key role in the country’s development and the present government is trying to acknowledge their status by resolving their genuine problems, the minister said.
MMAP Secretary General Abdul Manaf Khan demanded uniformity in the education system while Azram Khan attributed under development and destruction in the education system to political interference. Hafiz Abdul Nasir proposed that a commission comprising teachers, parents’ education experts, students, journalists and lawyers should be constituted and the National Education Policy should be framed in the light of its recommendations. Muzamal Khan Turnabi said that unless teachers’ community was steered out of economic hardships, the success of any education policy would remain an unachievable goal.
EFFECTIVE POLICING: Former foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan has called for measures to free the police department of political interference in an effort to create an effective policing system and forge a better relationship between people and the law-enforcement agency.
He was speaking to participants at a four-day training workshop entitled public-friendly police, which was arranged by the Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment here on Saturday evening. Over 300 police personnel attended the workshop.
DPO Syed Feroze Shah, DPO investigation Waheed Khan and other police officers were also present on this occasion.
He said the police reforms under police order 2002 was a welcome step towards developing a good working relationship between police and the public.
Javed Badar, Adnan Khan and Sher Azam of DTCE in their speeches said that the workshop was aimed at facilitating a good working relationship between public and the police.
They told that open kucheries at union council level would soon follow the community friendly policing workshop where the people would be educated about their rights and duties under police order 2002 and sensitize both police and public about extending help to each other in the society.
All police stations of Haripur are being computerised by the DTCE and all computers would be internally connected with the DPO office.
Sharifuddin Memon, chief of the Citizens Police Liaison Committee Karachi, also spoke about the merits of a working relationship between police and citizens.
