Notice issued: SEPA gives 'last warning' to HMC over pollution of Phuleli Canal

Hyderabad industrialists remain at loggerheads with SEPA on untreated effluent discharge issue

HYDERABAD: The waterways and air quality in several localities in Hyderabad depict a sorry state of indifference of the local authorities. They are supposed to act as a deterrent to the actions of burning solid waste in the residential areas and discharge of municipal and industrial effluent in fresh water bodies. But, ironically, they can be seen flagrantly contributing to public health and environmental hazards.

On Friday, the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) issued yet another notice to the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC).

The letter, issued three days after a personal hearing of HMC Municipal Commissioner Shahid Ali Khan, warned the corporation to stop polluting the Phuleli Canal and burning solid waste in the city's settled areas.



The canal, which is a drinking water and irrigation source for 630,000 acres of farmland in Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Badin and Thatta districts, has long been a victim of effluent discharge and solid waste dumping.

At a briefing to the former environment minister, Dr Sikandar Mandhro in December, 2015, the HMC officials had said that 960 tons of garbage are generated in the city every day and that a large part of it is dumped on the canal's banks.

Besides being a contravention of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014, the actions also violate an order of the Sindh High Court's judicial commission on water and sanitation. The agency has been sporadically writing to HMC to take corrective measures for several years with little or no effect.



However, this time around, Sepa Regional Director Muneer Abbassi told The Express Tribune that they will take the matter to the environmental tribunal for punitive action against the HMC. "We have issued repeated notices to them but the problem still remains unaddressed. This time we will have to take them to the tribunal," he said.

Through the notice, HMC has been directed to submit an undertaking to Sepa in which it will have to assure that the identified issues will be resolved within 15 days. The corporation has been asked to make arrangement for lifting the thousands of tons of solid waste which litters the banks of the Phuleli Canal. A Sepa team will again inspect the sites on October 10 to assess compliance.

Industrial pollution

As many as 112 industrial units in the three SITE areas in Hyderabad region, also including sugar mills and distilleries which are located outside the industrial zones, have been polluting different waterways.

The site areas are home to textile, paper, oil, tobacco, cables, edible items, pharma and cement industries while sugar mills and distilleries are located in the rural areas.



According to the regional director, so far 28 of these industries have installed in-house effluent treatment plants and another 12 are in the process of installation.

Among the 28 units, as many as 18 are located in Jamshoro district's Kotri SITE area and two each in Nooriabad site and Petaro Road. Two industries each in Benazirabad and Badin districts and only one in Hyderabad and Tando Allahyar districts have functioning treatment systems. "After our persistent notices, some industries have started to set up the treatment plants but many are still avoiding it," Abbassi said.

In Hyderabad, where the business community is resisting Sepa's insistence on in-house treatment, only eight more factories are in the process of setting up plants. "The SITE infrastructure is in a dilapidated state. Unemployment is increasing, but Sepa is forcing us to build treatment plants," Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice-President Ziauddin Ahmed complained.



He opposed the agency's stricture for each industrial unit to have its own plant. "This is not possible," he underlined, demanding the Sindh government build a combined effluent treatment plant for the whole SITE area in Hyderabad.

However, Sepa's officials argue that each industrial unit is under agreement with the Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate that it will not emit or release untreated gases or liquid. The environmental rules also apply to these industries.