Sustainability concerns: Environment at the heart of PML-N manifesto: Mushahidullah

Climate change minister meets with local NGO; bemoans performance of official institutions

ISLAMABAD: The failure of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) to tackle escalating levels of environmental degradation in the capital was highlighted on Friday.

Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Mushahidullah Khan expressed serious concern over the ineffectiveness of the two agencies and directed them to effectively address environmental issues such as water and air pollution, encroachments of public spaces, green belts and rainwater drains.

The minister held a meeting with Islamabad Green Force, a non-government organisation advocating environmental conservation and protection. The NGO’s head, Dr Dushka Hussain Sayed, urged the minister to keep environmental degradation in check by holding officials in concerned government organisations accountable.

“No one dares encroach upon a single inch of land in the capital nor contaminates the environment without the involvement of corrupt elements in these government organisations, which have failed to protect the beauty and cleanliness of the city,” the minister bemoaned.

The delegation brought to attention various environmental issues facing the city, such as the destruction of green areas; the conversion of greenbelts into parking spaces, commercial and residential areas; the destruction of the Margalla Hills National Park due to stone-crushing and commercial development; damage to forested areas around the Rawal Lake which is polluting the Rawal Dam; the conversion of rainwater streams into sewage drains; and the destruction of the Shakarparian area through unbridled concretisation.

Khan assured the group of his support in solving these issues, saying he had already warned the CDA of action in case of failure to get the environmental impact assessment of the expansion managers of Islamabad Expressway expansion project before proceeding further on the initiative. He stressed that the PML-N government was favoured towards development, but not at the expense of the environment. “CDA must not forget that environmental project is at the heart of PML-N’s political manifesto,” the minister said.

He also welcomed ideas and support of the Islamabad Green Force in making the city sustainable and livable.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2015.