The vanishing Margalla Hills

ISLAMABAD: The stone-crushing activities of 11 private interests continue in Margalla Hills, despite having been issued notices by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) for operating illegally in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

Assistant Commissioner ICT Captain Farid said the administration was working towards implementing the Pakistan Environment Protect Act (PEPA) promulgated in 1997. The environment act is a comprehensive 25-page document setting the ground rules for the protection of environment in the country.

According to PEPA, “No proponent of a project shall commence construction or operation unless he has filed [a petition] with the [authority officially designated] …, or, where the project is likely to cause an adverse environmental effects [and in this case, the party will need to get prior approval from the government to conduct such activities].”

“Those who do not have a stay order from the court or a valid license would be forced to shutdown,” Captain Farid told The Express Tribune, adding that the ICT administration was going to launch another operation in collaboration with CDA environment directorate, industries and labour department on Wednesday to put a stop to these “illegal operations”.

Director General (DG) Pak-EPA Asif Shuja said that 50 of the 61 stone crushers operating in Margalla Hills have had their leases expired. He said Pak-EPA will suspend supply of electricity to these stone crushers to force them to stop their operations.  “We have asked them to appear before the court under Section 16 of the Environment Protection Act. If they are unable to give a satisfactory reason for not getting their licenses renewed an order (to stop the operations will be) issued,” DG Shuja added.

Section 16 of PEPA empowers the concerned official body (in this case Pak-EPA) to issue notices to companies that they deem are causing preventable damage to the environment.

These actions follow a meeting between high officials of the Ministry of Environment, ICT, Capital Development Authority, Islamabad Electric Supply Company, Department of Mines and Minerals on Thursday, August 19, to discuss the unabated stone-crushing activities in Margalla Hills.

The stone-crushers association of Margalla Hills says that 25,000 families depend on their operations, and will be badly affected if their operations are brought to a halt.

“If the government takes action against us, construction work all over the country will suffer and the rates for stones used in construction will skyrocket,” said one member of the association.

But the environment takes precedence in this particular case, according to DG Shuja. “We do not want these stone crushers to destroy the natural beauty of these hills, while at the same time crushing the natural habitat of many animals.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2010.