A couple of months back, Pepa had taken a serious note of the utter neglect of environment protection rules by the mills administration, warning it of action if it failed to minimise the discharge of pollutants, which it said, might cause various ailments among the area people.
A local environment activist, Khalid Khan, alleged that no action was being taken against the mills despite clear violation of environment law as its owners were politically influential people.
According to a survey conducted by Dawn, round-the-clock functioning of sugar mills produces extremely poisonous fumes, which, along with the wind, creates an umbrella of ash which keeps on falling down. This ash was causing various diseases among the local population.
According to local medical experts, since November an upsurge was witnessed in the cases of eye ailment and skin allergy among the residents because of the pollution caused by the mills.
Meanwhile, the mills administration officer claimed that an Indian environmental expert, Mr Salujah, had been hired to suggest measures to minimise the current level of pollution being caused by the industrial unit.