SEPA warns industrial units defying environmental laws
PHOTO: FILE
The Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) conducted personal hearings of a number of industries of Nooriabad Industrial Zone and warned their owners and managements that their factories are going to be sealed if they fail to comply with environmental laws.
The industrialists were summoned to appear before Director General Naeem Mughal at SEPA's head office in Karachi to explain why they had failed to obtain prior permission from the agency before the construction of their units.
The owner of an industry told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity that almost all the owners and managers of the factories who attended the hearings agreed to submit environmental examination reports to SEPA.
"We informed the DG that we had obtained all the approvals as directed by SITE and that we are ready to submit environment impact assessment (EIA) reports as well at the earliest," he said.
However, a source claimed that the DG appeared adamant that he would seal the factories. An official of SEPA, who also requested not to be named, informed The Express Tribune that action has been initiated by SEPA after the June 22 order of Sindh High Court (SHC).
The SHC had directed SEPA to collect water samples of all the industrial units at Nooriabad and submit the analysis reports in the court. "Let EIA of all of these units in Nooriabad be made," the order reads.
However, the SHC's order nowhere asks SEPA to take coercive action like closure of factories that too when the owners have assured that they will submit the environment assessment reports as required under the Sindh Environment Protection Act, 2014.
DG Mughal neither attended calls nor responded to queries submitted through a text message to tell why the factories assuring early compliance are allegedly being threatened with sealing.
The factories were served notices last month for personal hearings under Section 21 (1) of the Act. "No proponent of a project shall commence construction or operation unless it has filed with the provincial agency an initial environmental examination or where the project is likely to cause an adverse environment effect, an EIA," read the notices.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2022.