Judicial commission seeks list of environment-polluting industries

Orders plan to stop discharge of sewage in Hyderabad canals

HYDERABAD: The judicial commission on water and sanitation has directed the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) to submit a list of industrial units that have been polluting the environment.

Following his visit to various sites in Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Thatta on January 21 and 22, the commission's head, Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim, ordered Sepa on Tuesday to also detail actions taken against the violators so far.

During its visit to the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate, Kotri and Hyderabad, the commission observed that Sepa was not taking required efforts to curb pollution. The environmental regulator will have to inform the commission today (Thursday) about the industries that have still not installed in-house effluent and solid waste treatment systems.

The public health engineering department, which is responsible for the construction of water supply and sanitation projects, also disappointed the commission due to its hundreds of unfinished projects. Chief Engineer Nafees Ahmed Shaikh, who accompanied the commission, could not properly answer the commission's queries regarding the current status of the projects.



Justice (retd) Muslim observed that the chief engineer was ill informed about some 900 different projects which were being executed by his department. Jamshoro Deputy Commissioner Capt (retd) Fariddudin Mustafa informed the commission that a total of 147 schemes were being executed by the department in his district but none had been completed yet.

"Under these circumstances I am compelled to issue a notice to the secretary [of the] public health engineering department to appear with explanation on January 25," Justice (retd) Muslim wrote in the order, summoning the secretary and chief engineer today (Thursday).

The public health engineering and rural development departments have been directed to submit details of the budget allocated in the previous and ongoing years. The commission has also directed the deputy commissioners in Sindh, who have still not identified landfill sites or have not submitted proposals to the land utilisation department, to complete this process in a week. The commission head expressed hope that the land utilisation department will approve land for the landfill sites at the earliest.

Local Government Secretary Muhammad Ramzan Awan assured the commission that he would resolve the issue of payment of salaries to employees of the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), Hyderabad, within one week. The agency's water supply and drainage operations are recurrently stalled by protesting staff.



The secretary was also directed to prepare a plan with Wasa to stop discharge of municipal sewage in the Phuleli, Akram and Pinyari canals in Hyderabad and channel it instead towards the treatment plant behind Isra University. "The plan will save [the] lives of the citizens who are made to drink contaminated water from aforesaid canals," the commission head observed.