The environment tribunal Lahore, Punjab has been dysfunctional for the last two months and the violators of the environmental laws are continuing to play havoc with the environment of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan Today has learnt. As many as 400 to 450 cases sent by the Pakistan’s Environment Protection Agency (EPA) are awaiting action.
The tribunal comprises a chairman and two members; legal and technical, and according to the Environment Protection Act 1997, the environment tribunal cannot operate without a chairman. The tribunal’s chairman retired on May 30, 2011, while member legal retired on July 15, 2011, and both the posts are still lying vacant. An EPA official, seeking anonymity, told Pakistan Today, “We can only issue notices to the violators of the Environment Protection Act and environment tribunal is responsible for carrying out inquiries and punishing them, but unfortunately our 400 to 450 cases are pending with the tribunal, thus the violators get a free hand to play with the environment of the capital city and Rawalpindi.”
While talking about the Rawal Lake contamination issue, the official said that EPA blocked all illegal sewerage lines of catching areas and issued notices to the people who did not follow EPA’s instructions. “But all this has gone in vain as 123 cases related to the Rawal Lake issue are still pending with the tribunal despite the Supreme Court’s orders to expedite the process,” he said. “Pending cases deal with Rawal Lake contamination, housing societies dumping waste in the open, factories in the industrial sector, brick kilns and stone crushers. All these factors are mainly responsible for damaging the environment of the capital,” he said.
The situation warrants the need of a ‘federal environment tribunal’ to deal with the environmental issues of the capital, he said. He said it was encouraging that after the devolution of the environment ministry, efforts were being made to set up the federal environment tribunal. There are four environment tribunals in Pakistan, each for every province, but unfortunately, currently three tribunals in Quetta, Lahore and Peshawar respectively, are dysfunctional, whereas the capital is running without it, thus depending on the Lahore tribunal.
Factories and manufacturing units of GI pipes, soap, chemical, plastic, marble, spices, printing, ghee/oil mills and steel furnaces operating in I-9 and I-10 industrial estates, which either lack or have inadequate facilities for treatment of waste emissions, are causing water and air pollution in the area. Residents of Islamabad have complained several times that the residents of sectors I-9 and I-10 have become patients of asthma, respiratory infections, allergies and heart diseases owing to the pollution being emitted by industrial units, especially steel furnaces and marble units, in the federal capital’s industrial estate.
While talking to Pakistan Today, Shakil Ramay, head of Climate Change Study Center, SDPI, an NGO, said, “According to a five-year-old report of the World Bank, Pakistan had been losing Rs 365 million per year owing to environment degradation. So, in this context, instead of coming up with an integrated approach to address this issue, we are going towards a disaster.”
“Without a strong system for implementation of rules and regulation of the environment, we are inviting everyone to damage the environment for personal interests,” he said. EPA Director General Asif Shujah said, “Due to the vacant seat of the chairman, the Punjab tribunal is dysfunctional. So, definitely our performance gets affected. Since the cases are pending with the tribunal, we cannot take measures with decisions pending.”
