HARIPUR, Sept 23: Six non-governmental organisations (NGOs) held a rally on Saturday to protest against pollution being emitted by the Hattar Industrial Estate.

The rally was jointly organised by Sustainable Development Vision, Human Development Organisation, RDP, Sungi, SRSP and Village Organisation, Hattar.

The participants, carrying placards and banners inscribed with anti-pollution slogans, marched from the Best Way Chowk to the gate of the Saadi Cement Factory Hattar.

The speakers criticised the entrepreneurs of Hattar for polluting the environment by flushing out untreated sewage into open brooks and emitting raw cement and other hazardous gases in the air.

They said that due to air and water pollution the rate of respiratory diseases was on the rise and crop yield had fallen by fifty percent. They said pollution was not a problem of only environmentalists; it was harmful to every living being on the earth.

They said unless environment-friendly development was promoted and ensured through effective legislation, the goal of real economic development would remain elusive in Pakistan. They said Pakistan was a developing state with the highest number of population below the poverty line and impacts of water and air pollution would prove detrimental to its development.