KARACHI, Feb 5: Countless illegal industrial units are operating in the densely populated residential localities of the old city areas in Lyari Town. These industrial units are a major source of pollution in this part of the city.

Residents of these localities have long been urging the authorities to shift the factories, workshops and other such concerns to the industrial zones establish for the purpose. They also seek an effective ban on setting up warehouses in residential areas.

A fresh survey of the old city areas shows that many of these industrial units have three shifts a day which means they are run non-stop round-the-clock. It also transpired that quite a large number of these are illegal and unregistered, mainly because they produce substandard products or imitate the genuine brands. The items produced in such units include spices, confectionary products, tobacco-added products, soap & detergent, chemicals for domestic use, etc. All these substandard or fake items are dangerous to human health whereas the manufacturing units contribute greatly to the already polluted environment.

Residents of the localities housing such factories blame insanitation and unhygienic conditions on the operators of these units, indicating that they would always dump their hazardous waste in the narrow streets and lanes of the neighbourhood.

According to the NGOs and CBOs functioning in the area, more than 500 illegal units are located in the thickly populated localities of Lyari and Saddar towns. Operators of these illegally set up units would violate laws, rules and regulations prescribed by the concerned municipality, as well as the environmental agencies and other relevant authorities.

They claim that many of the owners and operators of such units had obtained the licence to run the factories after greasing palms of the municipal officials concerned, but there are many others who had not even bothered to meet the ‘criterion’.

A CBO representative pointed that availability of cheap labour and warehousing facility appeared to be some of the main reasons for the mushroom growth of such illegal industrial units in the old city area.