LAHORE, May 4: The Punjab government has notified yet another National Environmental Quality Standards for the obliteration of toxic industrial waste and pollution to save the citizens from the harmful effects of tanneries, besides organizing institutional setup.
This was stated by chief minister adviser on human rights Rana Ijaz Ahmed in a press release issued here on Sunday.
Rana Ijaz also noted that municipal pollution had become a major cause of aquatic degradation. He said the active participation of NGOs and social sector could help government tackle environment related problems in the province.
He said that there was need to create awareness in society about environment besides sensitizing people to use pure food. Junk food and other eatables available along roadsides were health hazard.
He said that by 2005, it would be mandatory to install water treatment plants in the factories. The industries set up after 1996 would have to obtain environment certificates, he added.
According to environmentalists, the Environment Protection Ordinance 1983 and the Pakistan Environment Act 1997 are hardly being implemented.
Pointing out fundamental flaws in the environmental legislation, they urged the government to take extraordinary steps to implement the already enacted laws.
They said that not a single case was brought to court after the promulgation of the Environment Protection Ordinance 1983 and the Pakistan Environment Protection Act 1997.
They said that unless powers were not delegated to the provincial EPAs regarding fee charges and dealing with the offences of the corporate sector and the government agencies, the implementation of such laws was not possible.
There was no procedural rules to implement the acts like handling of hazardous waste, sustainable development fund utilization rules, regulation of motor vehicles and administrative penalty rules, they claimed.
They said that neither the industrial and the municipal effluents were being treated nor any proper system for their collection or disposal had been evolved by the private sector or the government.
Indiscriminate use of fertilizers and pesticides was also causing immense damage to the land and water resources, they said.
“To protect the environment and nail the violators the government should ensure the implementation of environment laws. In the last two decades, a number of environmental laws were enacted but none of them being properly implemented,” they maintained.
They proposed that all industries should undergo an environment impact assessment and be dealt with according to its result.