Double trouble: Environment Department ‘overworked, understaffed’

Officials say number of inspectors needs to be doubled to handle cases.


Sonia Malik February 16, 2012

LAHORE:


The Environmental Protection Department needs eight more inspectors in Lahore and 50 for the rest of the Punjab as it cannot handle all its duties with its current manpower, said environment officials at the district and provincial level.


There are eight inspectors in Lahore and two deputy district officers, one of whom, Tariq Zaman, has been given the additional charge of district officer (environment), said an EPD official.

The inspectors must monitor polluting factories, smoke-emitting vehicles and the disposal of medical waste, among other things. “Our domain is diverse. We regulate multiple areas and work with departments such as Irrigation, Transport, Health, Social Security, TEPA [Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency], WAPDA [Water and Power Development Authority], NESPAK [National Engineering Service of Pakistan] and SNGPL [Sui Northern Gas Pipelines], and yet it is one of the most understaffed departments,” said an EPD official.

Inspector Yasir Gul said that of the eight inspectors currently working in Lahore, only three had a masters’ degree in environment sciences. “Only they can be assigned the task of compiling technical reports, say on noise pollution levels, water sampling of industrial effluents and drains, or environmental impact assessment reports for new projects,” he said. They also have to fine smoke-emitting vehicles, conduct surveys of chemical industries and do lab tests, he said.

The other five, who have matriculation diplomas, “usually just assist them or are sent to sites that need to be sealed,” he said.

Inspector Ali Raza said that EPD officials were sometimes assigned work for other departments, which meant their regular jobs took a back seat. “Last October, all nine inspectors were busy finding dengue larvae sites. We did not have the time to deal with complaints,” he said. “We get up to 500 complaints a day, but there are usually around 150 to 200.”

Raza added that he often had to give up his Sunday weekly holiday, and he had been working on the last two Eids.

Another official said that to seal one factory, the EPD needed to send three inspectors. One inspector did the inspection and sealing while two were required as witnesses to lodge an FIR, he said. “If we send only one he is likely to get beaten up by the workers or owners,” he said.

The inspectors were too busy to investigate cases properly, said the official. About 80 per cent of complaints stem from personal disputes, he said. “We sometimes have to rush through a case as there are not enough inspectors to investigate fully,” he said.

The official said that the difficulties of the job had been exacerbated by the rising number of illegal housing schemes and industrial units in residential areas. He said that such units somehow obtained NOCs from the Building Control Authority or town municipal administrations, and industrial connections from Wapda and SNGPL.

“But the complaints about them usually end up with the EPD, and we have to deal with issues not of our making,” he said.

A senior EPD official, on the condition of anonymity, said that Lahore needed at least eight more inspectors and another DDO. “We need around 50 more inspectors for the rest of Punjab. We are so overworked that we do not even have time to press the head office to hire people,” he said.

Environment Director General Maqsood Ahmed Lak said that though environment was a provincial subject after the passage of the 18th Amendment, the Punjab government has yet to pass a new law to replace the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act of 1997. “We cannot do anything until a new law is passed and the department is fully handed over to the provincial government,” Lak said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2012.

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