A panel of senators on Wednesday expressed their concern over the slow pace of converting smoke-spewing brick kilns in the federal capital to a fuel and emission efficient technology. It also sought alternative solutions to closing the zoo.
This was stressed during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change on Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by Senator Sitara Ayaz and was attended by Senators Ali Saif, Samina Saeed, Sherry Rehman, Sana Jamali, Faisal Javed, Asad Junejo, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Pervaiz Rashid, Kamran Michael, Kesho Bai, Musadik Malik, and Javed Abbasi. Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul along with senior officers of the ministry were also present.
The panel was briefed by the ministry on the environmental impact of brick kilns and measures taken to curb operations in nearby residential areas. So far, the committee was told, of the 63 kilns in Islamabad 10 have been converted.
The committee was informed of the challenges faced by the ministry and kiln owners. One argument presented was that most of the kilns were set up on land which had been leased. Hence, kilns could not obtain loans from banks to undertake the expensive conversion process because they lacked ownership documents
Further, the problems faced by small and medium-sized kilns were worse because most of these enterprises are based in informal settings and they fear being brought under the tax net and other regulatory procedures. Moreover, zig-zag technology requires a constant power supply to function efficiently and the areas where these kilns operate usually face up to 22 hours of power outages. Hence, dedicated transmission lines are critical for this purpose.
The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and heavy rainfall were the other factors causing delays.
The committee took serious notice of delays in converting brick kilns in the federal capital to use zig-zag technology. It recommended that a phased approach can be adopted in this regard.
Further, legislation must be made to penalise kiln owners who fail to adopt the technology within a given time frame.
Parliamentary Leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman said that while the government had ordered all brick kilns to be converted to ‘zig-zag’ technology, no deadline was set for the switch.
“We were told that the government will give Rs10 million per plant, depending on the size, to install the zig-zag,” she said, adding that there was no talk on percentages or loans.
“The federal capital should be a flagship for all the brick kilns getting that money and not on loan.” she said, adding, “We were told very clearly that Rs200 million will be transferred and all these (brick kilns) will be turned to zig-zag but it has still not been done.”
Converting the brick kilns, she said, will drastically cut air pollution by 70%.
The committee also reviewed the Islamabad Wildlife (protection, Preservation and Management) (Amendment) Bill 2020, and deferred it until the next meeting. The committee, though, took strong notice of recent deaths of lions, blue bulls (Nilgai) and ostriches there and called for a detailed investigation.
Senator Ayaz stated that the closure of the zoo was not an appropriate response to the issues there. She asserted that getting to the root of the problem and resolving it will be key to progress.
The committee stressed that in case of the zoo’s closure, following the Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision to uncage animals there, alternatives must be explored.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 3rd, 2020.
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