LAHORE, Nov 2: The Punjab Environment Protection Department has once again planed to grill industries for polluting rivers, canals, irrigation channels and water tributaries in the province after the Eid.
The department had initiated a self-monitoring and reporting tools (SMART) programme a couple of years ago. Under it, an industry had to assess the volume of hazardous waste generated by it and report to the department.
However, only half-a-dozen out of more than 6,000 industrial units in the Punjab had submitted their reports to the department. Since it was a voluntary programme, none of the violators was booked.
Punjab Environment Minister Makhdoom Ashfaq Ahmed told Dawn on Wednesday that this time the department would go hard on violators. “We will not spare the industries failing to get certified under ISO-9000 up to ISO-14000. The industries, especially those generating hazardous waste, will have to install plants to treat it, otherwise they would be closed.”
The minister said the department had completed its homework in this regard and would launch the campaign, in collaboration with the chamber of commerce and industry of various cities, by the middle of this month. He said the government would also provide financial support to those willing to install plants to treat the hazardous waste.
Some department officials said most of the industrialists were not willing to give a detailed account of hazardous waste being generated by their units to avoid any legal action. They said every industry could not install a treatment plant due to its expensive nature, and only a few units in the province had such plants.
The waste is also polluting drinking water. There are reports that the water available for the residents of some 10 housing colonies on Multan Road (Lahore) is being polluted owing to the discharge from the factories located there.
The colonies are Mohlanwal, Chuhngh, Muzamal Town, Deen Town, Hayat Kot, Tahir Colony, Kot Mohammad Husain, Shahpur Kanjnan (also six adjacent villages), Gupa Ray and Nawan Pind.
The officials predict if the ‘current practice’ is not stopped immediately these areas may become another ‘Manga Mandi’ where a number of bone-deformity cases had surfaced a couple of years back for similar reasons.
A number of residents of these colonies have filed applications against these factories with departments concerned but no action has been taken against them so far. The factories generating hazardous waste mostly include those involved in producing chemicals, rubber, drugs, electric sheets, cotton yarn, flour, knitted fabric, metal rod, angel iron, aluminium scrap, tin sheets, construction goods, lubricants, machinery, herbs, broiler chicken, transformers’repair, metal, plastic and brass scrap, pigments, marble slabs, diesel generator, ingredients of pesticides, salt lumps, garments, advertisement signboards, gamma sterilization and industrial machinery workshops.
Laws like the Pakistan Environment Protection Act 1997 and the Canal and Drain Act 1873 prohibit industries to throw their untreated effluents in the rivers, canal and irrigation channels.