LAHORE: Sheikh Anwar Rasheed, a Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officer and a former Excise and Taxation Department director general, has been appointed as the new Environment Protection Department secretary.
The appointment has come almost a month after the death of former EPD secretary Saeed Iqbal Wahla.
Prior to taking charge of the EPD on Friday evening, Rasheed had spent four months as Punjab Privatisation Board chairman. He attended a management course at the National Management College five months before joining the PPB.
Rasheed has also served as a director in the Punjab Food and Industries Department in 2009-10. He has been a PCS officer for the last 26 years.
Rasheed told The Express Tribune he had toured his office on Friday evening and had been briefed about his responsibilities.
“I look forward to taking charge and support from the media,” he said.
This is the first time a PCS officer has been appointed as EPD secretary since 1997. Most former secretaries had been District Management Group (DMG) officers. DMG offers are part of the federal Central Superior Services (CSS).
An official, not authorised to speak to press, who has spent over seven years with the EPD told The Express Tribune that the new secretary will need to be educated about the technical aspects of environmental issues.
Strong decisions are required on the big issues facing the department, including vehicular pollution, wetland degradation, industrial waste disposal and hospital waste management. We need someone with the courage to step up and take responsibility to change things for the better, the official said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2012.
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