An icecream factory and a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe manufacturing unit in Gilgit were sealed during a raid on Thursday.
A team comprising Magistrate Noor Alam, Industries Director Shah Jehan and Health and Nutrition Officers Ghulam Abbas and Khadim Hussain, and officials of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raided the two factories with the support of local police. The
icecream factory’s equipment was also seized by the health officials.
The raid was conducted in Danyore where a local manufacturer, Liaquat, was producing icecream for the past several years without having a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the EPA.
“We raided the factories as we received several complains from the local people,” said Khadim Hussain, an EPA official.
“Both these companies were using dangerous products, which can lead to the development of several fatal diseases among consumers,” he added.
“The ice cream factory was using highly substandard and poisonous material, such as expired flavours and contaminated water, which is bound to cause serious diseases.
The hygiene at the factory was also very poor,” he explained, adding that the seized icecream was discarded in the presence of the magistrate.
Hussain further said that the pipe manufacturing unit was closed until it obtained an NOC from the government. He said that the PVC pipe unit was running without any having legal documents, which violated the rules set by the government to safeguard the environment and public health.
“The material used for making PVC pipes is banned in most of the developed countries, as it is highly dangerous and the waste material can cause development of cancer among workers,” he said, adding that the waste product is available in the market at very low rates.
“We have received standing orders from the ministry to ban its sale,” he remarked.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2011.
COMMENTS (3)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
we are doing our best...we appeal the people of GB to identify such illegal units in near vicinty if any... we will take stern action against them...we are also planning to clean up all illegal manufacturing units forthe safety of public health.. GB-EPA is now planning to expend in all 7 districts..with the healp of administration and Industries deptt. we again appeal to the people of GB to help us to eradicate such units.
Dear Shabir first of all well done for the job you have done by highlighting the fumdamental issue in media and secondly we appricate the responsible authorities for their Vigilance. keep it up.