KARACHI, July 4: The Sindh Environment Protection Agency has not yet referred a single case regarding environmental hazards to the Environment Protection Tribunal.

Sindh Environment Secretary Mir Hussain Ali admitted this at the Annual Environment Excellence Award 2007 ceremony on Wednesday.

He said that all four polluting elements -- industries, district governments, transport and development projects -- were “too sensitive” for them to counter boldly.

“We cannot counter these pollution creators boldly unless we get concrete evidence. That is why, we have not referred any case to the tribunal so far,” he said.

“The City District Government Karachi and all other district governments in the province have failed to devise any strategy to check pollution. They have neither installed solid waste and sewerage treatment plants nor developed a mass transit system,” he said.

Since no action could be taken against polluters, the Sindh government allocated Rs7.5 million for spreading awareness, he said, expressing hope that this might solve the problem to some extent.

Mr Ali said the environmental issues were now being taken seriously due to increasing pressure from international agencies and the media. Soon, he said, Sepa offices would be set up in Hyderabad and Sukkur.

Environment Protection Tribunal’s Technical Member Dr Samiuz Zaman said that the tribunal must be given powers of taking suo motu action so that it could act against polluters without depending on Sepa.—PPI