Pollution concerns: Centre, Punjab issued notices on plea against power plant

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court (LHC) issued notices to the federal and Punjab governments on Monday on a petition questioning violations of environmental laws in the construction of Sahiwal Coal Power Plant (Qadirabad).

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah directed government lawyers to respond to the petitioner’s claim that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project had ignored international standards.

Zubair Niazi, a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf local leader, had filed the petition through his counsel Sheraz Zaka.

The lawyer told the court some environment-related prerequisites had not been followed before the launch of the project. He said the residents of the area would suffer because of environmental degradation if the government did not stop execution of the project.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah  ordered the government lawyers to submit their reply on December 2.

He also directed the registrar’s office to consolidate all similar petitions so that they could be taken up at the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2015.