'Karachi lacks proper mechanism to monitor air quality'

Environmentalist says air quality of city has deteriorated due to rapid urbanisation

KARACHI: The city for the last many years has lacked any proper mechanism to monitor its air quality at a time when harmful industrial and vehicular emissions, burning of municipal waste, constant cutting of trees and rapid commercialisation has irreversibly damaged the environment of the city.

These views were shared by environmental experts at a dialogue, 'Air Quality and Climate Change: A Case of Karachi', organised by the National Forum for Environment and Health and Environmental Management Consultants Pakistan, which was attended by a large number of environmentalists, academicians, public representatives, industrialists, and government officials.

Environmentalist Saquib Ejaz Hussain said the air quality of the city had deteriorated so severely due to rapid urbanisation that Karachi had been termed as the fifth-most polluted city of the world as per a report by the World Health Organization in 2016.



He said the coal yard of the Karachi Port Trust had been functioning without any check and the activities related to transportation, handling and storage of coal had virtually ruined the environment of the adjoining areas and caused serious health risks for their residents, labourers and visitors.

He also said the Air Quality Monitoring Stations of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency have not been in use for the last six to seven years.

Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA) Director-General Farzana Altaf said use of non-degradable plastic bags in Islamabad had been controlled up to 70% while provincial governments should also follow suit and adopt such measures to prevent further harm to the environment.



Taking forward the suggestion over ban on plastic bags, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Khurrum Sher Zaman said he would soon move a resolution in the Sindh Assembly to make it binding upon the provincial government to ban the use of non-degradable plastic bags in the entire province.

Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Shamim Ahmed Firpo said industries should fulfil their obligation regarding the protection of the environment by setting up waste water treatment plants on their own without waiting any more for government's support.

Transport Minister Nasir Hussain Shah was the chief guest on the occasion.