Crushing stones: 603 unlicensed units operating in province

SC says report is incomplete, summons LG secretary.

ISLAMABAD: Some 603 stone crushing units are operating without a licence in 11 districts of Punjab, the provincial government told the Supreme Court on Saturday.

Submitting a report in the court, the local government (LG) secretary said 603 of the 679 stone crushing units were operating without a licence in Mianwali, Gujrat, Bhakkar, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Dera Ghazi Khan and Sargodha.

The bench was hearing a suo motu case on the application of Usama Khawar and Yahya Farid Khawaja, members of the Public Lawyers Front.

The applicants had requested the court to direct provincial governments to frame rules to regulate occupations involving stone crushing and the hazardous emission of silica dust.

The report said the town municipal administrations (TMAs) of Jhelum, Mianwali, Rawalpindi, Lahore and Dera Ghazi Khan had yet to notify their respective bylaws empowering them to issue licences. It said the bylaws were being prepared and would be completed after observing all the formalities.

The report also said notices were issued to 74 units in Sargodha over unpaid licence fees. “Eight units have been closed. Challans for recovering licence fee from 171 units have been submitted in court.”

Regarding 251 unlicensed stone crushing units in Rawalpindi, the report said relevant bylaws were being formulated in the TMAs, adding that necessary orders had been issued to finalise the process in the shortest possible time.

The three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, declared the report to be ‘incomplete’ and summoned the LG secretary on April 14.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2015.