HARIPUR, Sept 16: The setting up of an industrial effluent treatment plant at the Hattar Industrial Estate Haripur has hit snags as the Asian Development Bank has not released funds to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , informed sources told Dawn here on Thursday.

Following demands from the residents of surrounding villages of estate the ADB had last year agreed to finance Rs 40 million project for the installation of two treatment plant at Hattar industrial estate.

For this purpose the Sarhad Development Authority (SDA) Haripur had prepared a feasibility report identifying the most polluted zones of the existing five phases of the site.

The SDA reportedly submitted its report to the DCO Haripur after a delay of six months selecting phase one, two and five of the zone to be covered by the treatment plant in the first phase, while phases of three and four were left for the second treatment plant.

This report was forwarded to EPA for approval and implementation but according to sources, the EPA could not get the PC 1 of the treatment plant approved from the donor agency.

According to a chemical analysis of industrial effluent of Hattar, which was conducted by the EPA Peshawar in 1999, there are 146 industrial units operating at Hattar and of these 38 were directly draining out their chemical effluent in the open null as while 79 were emitting poisonous smoke and gases through their chimneys.

The people had approached the Wafaqi Mohtasib last year who asked the industrialists for installation of effluent treatment plant by December 2003 but this order had also fell on the deaf ears of influential factory owners.

"How long would they continue to rob the residents of sur rounding localities of their right of clean air and environment," said Syed Abrar Shah an executive director of a NGO adding that the silence on the part of authorities concerned had caused more than 12 deaths and exposed scores of the villagers to the hazards.