LAHORE, Nov 15: Pakistan Tanners Association Northern Zone chairman Agha Saiduddin has called for installation of treatment plants at tanneries in the Punjab.

He was speaking at one-day workshop on environmental management system (ESM) at a hotel here on Thursday.

The workshop was arranged by the association under a Dutch-funded environmental programme. It was aimed at creating awareness about environmental issues among the top management officers of various tanneries of the province.

Speaking to the participants, Agha Saiduddin said that financial assistance for setting up treatment plants could be sought from the export development fund (EDF). He thanked the government of the Netherlands for providing necessary financial aid on humanitarian grounds for the environmental programme.

He urged the government of Pakistan to provide assistance to the tannery industry in its environmental programme and help set up the treatment plants which would go a long way in checking the air and water pollution in the vicinity of the tanneries.

He also stressed the need for developing sanitary landfills sites close to major tanneries for solid waste management.

Eminent environmental expert Azharuddin Khan also briefed the participants in the workshop on the importance of clean environment in and around the factories.

Experts Muhammad Javaid Cheema and Ms Nida Asrar gave lectures on environmental management system and ISO 14,000.

They said that an institution called Introduction of Cleaner Technologies in Tannery Clusters of Punjab (ICTP) was committed to provide free of cost technical services to all the tanneries.