ISLAMABAD, March 29: The Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) is coming under immense pressure from its parent ministry to go soft on the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and not to issue legal orders for violating the agency’s rules in carrying out development projects, Dawn has reliably learnt.

The environment ministry has asked the Pak-EPA not to issue the Environmental Protection Order (EPO) to the CDA for damaging the city’s environment, an official privy to the development told this newspaper.

Of late the momentum created by the Supreme Court’s suo motu notice of the increasing environmental degradation in the capital city seems to be put in reverse gear with the soft pedaling by the environment ministry on the CDA’s ongoing relentless developmental activities, the concerned official said.

Riding on the judicial criticism the Pak-EPA, which works directly under the ministry, did serve a couple of notices on the CDA for the non-compliance of the Mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of its various development projects.

However, the Pak-EPA is yet to issue a single EPO to the CDA for damaging the environment as a result of its various uplift projects.

The EPO is only issued when the agency is satisfied that activities of a certain organization is adversely affecting the surrounding environment.

After issuance of an EPO, the concerned organization is legally made bound to take prescribed actions under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (Pepa), otherwise face penalties which can be a fine as well imprisonment up to two years.

The official, who requested not to be named, said that the environment ministry had stopped Pak-EPA from issuing EPO to the CDA on whatever grounds. “Unfortunately, they (CDA officials) have a preconceived notion that the EIA creates unnecessary hurdles in the way of smooth development and have effectively influenced the Pak-EPA through the environment ministry,” the official said.

The Pak-EPA for all its practical purposes runs under the federal environment ministry like the provincial environment protection agencies work under their respective environment ministries.

“It’s obvious to every naked eye that what is being done to the city’s environment in the name of development is in complete violation of environment laws but no body bothers,” the official added.

Only recently a number of mega projects have been announced by the government and some are already under-construction within the limits of the Islamabad Capital Territory but when it comes to the EIA neither the government nor private sector organizations seem interested.

The government is building a four-hundred-bed health tower at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and nearby another mega project is under-construction. “Despite repeated reminders by the Pak-EPA for their EIAs, the agency is yet to receive any response,” the official said.

In response to a question, the official argued that a powerful lobby is behind these multi-billion projects and the agency stood no where when it came to bring them to the book.