MUZAFFARGARH: A good number of people on Friday blocked the main roads of Multan and Kot Addu for hours at Mahmoodkot to protest against two sugar mills for discharging waste material into a drain making residential areas a hell on earth.

The protesters including women and children also hit out at the district administration for ignoring their demand for checking the hazardous practice by Fatima and Sheikhu sugar mills which release chemicals and waste material in drain used for water-logging.

Syed Khizar Abbas Gilani, who was leading the protest, told journalists that he had complained about the issue to the deputy commissioner many times but no action had been taken against the sugar mills.

He said he had informed the DC about the concerns of the residents of Mahmoodkot and Sanawan and the fact that hazardous waste posed an all-too-visible threat to public life.

He said there were many cases of people, especially children, catching viral diseases due to exposure to pollution. The smell of noxious fumes, he said, made it difficult for people to go pass the drain.

Mr Gilani said he also took up the issue with officials of the Sheikhu Sugar Mills but there was no positive response. Iqbal Khan Pittafi, the vice chairman of the district council, said more than 40,000 families were grappling with the nuisance.

He said two schools had to be wound up due to unbearable smell.

Muzaffargarh which is home to more than 20 textile mills and furnace oil thermal powers has no district officer environment for the last one year and there are complaints about no waste treatment plant in the district.

Mahmoodkot Union Council chairman Rana Amjad said many animals had been killed after gulping down toxic water of the drain and people had sold their cattle.

The protesters reached the Mahmoodkot police station for registration of a case against a sugar mill administration.

Meanwhile, a non-government organisation announced that the civil society and affected people would protest in Lahore and Islamabad if the practice of release of chemicals in the drain was not stopped.

A senior officer of the Sheikhu Sugar Mills says he can’t do much about it as the waste is being released under an agreement with the district government.

The Mahmoodkot SHO said he would forward Mr Gilani’s application to the higher-ups for registration of a case.

Deputy Commissioner Saif Anwar visited the protest site and assured the people that he would look into their complaint.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2018