PESHAWAR, June 26: A three-member tribunal of the NWFP and Punjab will conduct its proceedings in Peshawar instead of Lahore to dispose of cases related to environmental degradation in the NWFP, official sources said.

Previously the tribunal used to hear environmental cases in Lahore where the NWFP would also pursue its cases.

The Environmental Protec-tion Agency (EPA), NWFP had requested the chair person of the tribunal to set up its office in Peshawar to hear cases on a monthly basis.

In this connection chairperson of the tribunal Justice Zamir Hussain Shah visited the provincial metropolis on Thursday and held meetings with the registrar of the Peshawar High Court, secretary environment and director general EPA.

The tribunal comprising technical and legal experts was for the first time likely to begin hearings of environmental cases in Peshawar, officials said.

An official of the EPA told Dawn that the agency had issued environmental protection order to 12 industrial units and stone crushers in Peshawar and Khairabad under section 16 of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 asking them to control or minimise discharge of hazardous substances of their units within one month.

If the owners of the industrial units did not adopt remedial measures within the stipulated period the EPA would approach the tribunal to take legal action against the violators, he said.—Bureau