HYDERABAD, Dec 7: The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has expressed dissatisfaction over environmental conditions obtaining in the province observing that increasing pollution caused by industrial effluent is having a negative effect on the overall environment.

Sepa Director General Rafiuddin Siddiqui, calling for collective measures to control the situation, said that Sepa divisional offices would be established soon in Larkana, Sukkur and Mirpurkhas to address environmental issues.

He was speaking at a public hearing pertaining to a proposed filter plant to be set up on the premises of a pharmaceutical company in Jamshoro at a cost of Rs400 million.

The hearing was held at a local hotel on Friday.

Mr Siddiqui stressed the need for keeping people aware of the harmful effect of environmental pollution.

He expressed dissatisfaction over measures taken by industries to treat the waste before disposal.

He said that last year around 3,500 industrial units were issued notices for violating environmental laws. He appreciated the pharmaceutical company’s initiative to establish its own waste recycling/treatment plant.

The company’s technical director, Ali Gul, said that the wastewater filter plant, planned in 2010, would provide clean drinking and irrigation water to the residents of villages located around the company premises.

He said that the company was already providing 30,000 gallons of clean drinking water a day to Lakho Faqir, Siddiqui Rajar and Ramzan Rajar villages through its filter plant in Chakkar Khan village.