‘Violation of environmental laws not to be tolerated’

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

Thursday, March 11, 2010
By By M. Waqar Bhatti
Karachi

No violations of environmental law regarding solid waste disposal would be tolerated, and offenders, including civic agencies and cantonment boards, would be referred to the Environmental Tribunal, Sindh Environment Minister Shaikh Muhammad Afzal said on Wednesday.

The minister was addressing a meeting of officials from civic agencies and land-controlling authorities at the Sindh Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) office.

“Some town administrations, especially Jamshed Town administration and the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), are disposing of their solid waste along the Malir River bed, and burning it there,” Afzal said.

The minister, however, asserted that such practice would be strongly resisted in future, and warned violators to mend their ways and formulate a joint, coordinated policy for solid waste disposal.

Afzal said that due to the violations of environmental law by various civic and military agencies, people are pointing fingers at the performance and role of the environment department and Sepa, and both were getting “defamed” due to the illegal activities of these agencies.

“I want to remind violators that under Section 14 of PEPA-1997, those disposing of their solid waste through unsafe methods could face imprisonment and fine,” Afzal said, adding that he asked the chiefs of all land-controlling agencies to improve coordination amongst them.

Afzal said that the efforts of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) for evolving a coordinated policy for an effective solid waste management mechanism failed due to “lackluster and non-serious attitude” of some land-controlling agencies, especially cantonment boards.

The minister directed all civic agencies to remove all garbage dumps established outside hospitals, as they could create health hazards for a lot of people, and asked them to devise a proper strategy on hospital waste management as per established practices in the developed world.

Afzal also asked cantonment boards to refrain from burning garbage within their limits, saying that it was recently observed that some cantonments were torching solid waste to save on their transportation cost to shift the waste to landfill sites.

“The environment department and Sepa are always available to assist civic and military agencies in providing them with guidance and other necessary resources to make the city’s environment clean. We are also ready to bring everyone at one platform to evolve a joint and coordinated strategy for solid waste disposal,” he told participants of the meeting.

The chiefs of various land-controlling authorities, including town administrators and executive officers of cantonment boards, assured their complete cooperation to the environment department in having a solid waste management system in the city. They also assured the minister that practices of disposing of solid waste within city limits will be curbed, but urged the minister to assist them in overcoming their shortcomings in improving their respective systems of solid waste disposal.

The meeting was attended by, among others, the municipal services officials of CDGK, town administrators of various towns, Sepa officials, environment and alternate energy secretary, executive officers of various cantonment boards, and representatives of military lands and cantonments director.