KARACHI, Nov 11: The City Naib Nazim, Nasreen Jalil, on Sunday said that environmental pollution was one of the major issues confronting the world and held diesel vehicles responsible for the menace.

She expressed these views while speaking as chief guest at the 4th International Conference and Exhibition organised by the National Forum for Environment and Health here at the Expo Centre.

Ms Jalil asked the CNG Station Owners Association of Pakistan (CSOAP) to forward their suggestions to the city government against illegal workshops.

She said that untrained mechanics were installing CNG kits into vehicles at such workshops thus contributing towards environmental pollution.

Ms Jalil said that the city government was planning to establish five CNG stations in the city. She said that in first phase these stations would be set up in Orangi, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Malir, Shah Latif and Surjani towns and the work on CNG route network was under way.

She said that two-stroke rickshaws would be banned by 2010. The naib nazim also lauded CNG Rickshaw Scheme under the President’s Employment Scheme. She said that assembling CNG buses in the country would also help control environmental pollution.

It was suggested that stern legal action should be taken against untrained mechanics and illegal workshops.

The conference was also informed that around 12,000 to 15,000 vehicles were being converted to CNG from petrol and diesel every month.

CSOAP chairman Malik Khuda Bux, General-Secretary Abbas Sajid and the president of the National Forum for Environment and Health, Naeem Qureshi, also spoke.—PPI