Zoning laws: Relocation notices to be sent to 267 factories

Towns have approval to move hazardous units out of residential areas.

LAHORE:

The local administration has received permission from the Punjab government to act against 267 factories located in residential areas that pose a risk to their neighbours, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The town administrations are to serve notices on the factories giving them three months to move out, after they check to make sure that the factories are still in their areas, officials said.

The city government wrote to the Punjab government in August seeking permission to move these factories from residential area. This permission was granted on September 16.

A survey was conducted in September 2012 by the district officer (industries), civil defence and district office of environment in September last year, in the aftermath of two major industrial disasters. Twenty-six workers were killed when a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s factory collapsed in Kharak on Multan Road in March 2012. And at least 23 workers were killed in a fire at a shoe factory on Bund Road in September.

According to the survey, 7,750 factories were operating in residential areas, of which 2,107 were small or medium industrial units. The rest did not fall under the category of industrial units, as they had less than 10 workers each. The factories were assessed on a 100-point hazard scale, with 267 scoring more than 80 points and 71 scoring more than 90 points. These 71 factories were issued “final notices” on May 31 (they were dispatched till June 6) giving them a week to fix the various problems identified in the survey and to comply with safety regulations, including the installation of fire safety equipment, or to relocate.

The notices, served under Section 146 D-1 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 2001, identified four areas of concern: the illegal establishment of the factories in residential areas; inadequate or faulty safety measures; insufficient work space and lack of mandatory open spaces or setbacks; and environmental hazards.

However, the city government did not inspect the factories to see if they had complied with the notices, and no factory was sealed or fined.

District Officer (Industries) Muhammad Azhar said that the town administrations had been instructed to serve relocation notices on the 267 factories. He said that they had sought the chief minister’s approval to take action because some 6,000 labourers worked at the 267 units, and they wanted the chief minister to be aware of the potential economic impact. He said the towns would start serving the notices from Monday and serve them all within 15 days. The factories would be moved out by December, he added.

Many of these factories are located on Bund Road, the site of the shoe factory blaze of September 2012. Azhar said that these would be given space at the Sundar Industrial Estate. He said that it was not possible to set up an operating industrial unit in three months, but many of these had already been warned back in June to move. The city government had also been in touch with them, directly and indirectly, to inform them of their plan to move them out. He said that they would have to move, for they would not be allowed to operate in their current locations.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2013.