Ravi ecology: Treatment plants will be built to clean out drains, says minister

Minister vows to take action against polluting industries.

LAHORE:

The government has approved a project to set up treatment plants that will clean up water in sewage drains, including Hadiara, before it flows into the River Ravi, Minister for Environment Protection Col (retired) Shuja Khanzada said on Monday.

The minister, presiding over a meeting at the Environment Protection Department, said that this project was aimed at protecting the ecology of the Ravi, which has long been treated as a sewage dump by the city.

Environment Secretary Anwar Rasheed briefed the minister on the current situation at Hadiara, in which many factories dump toxic waste without treatment.

The minister said that action would be taken against industries which are polluting the atmosphere by emitting waste gases without pushing them through proper filters. The government will ensure there is a healthy environment for people living near industrial areas.

Khanzada said that a meeting of the EPD and all stakeholders with environmental concerns will be held very soon.

The government will prepare a wastewater treatment strategy in collaboration with these stakeholders. Every government institution will have to follow the strategy and present implementation reports to the EPD every six months, he said.

EPD Director General Farooq Hameed Sheikh also attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2013.