Controlling the ever-increasing pollution in Sindh seems like a distant dream, as the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) cannot set up its offices in every part of the province.
SEPA has offices in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur only. The agency was established in July 1989 and it is working under the Sindh Environmental & Alternative Energy Department since October 2002.
Sindh has been at risk of several environmental threats, including air pollution, water contamination, domestic and industrial wastewater, marine pollution, municipal and industrial solid waste, hospital waste, industrial hazardous waste, desertification and deforestation, agrochemicals, biodiversity degradation, sea intrusion and oil spills at ports.
According to sources, SEPA has been receiving dozens of complaints from interior Sindh, but they remain unattended due to lack of staff and offices. The districts where SEPA needs to establish its offices include Thatta, Jamshoro, Dadu, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Khairpur Mir’s, Naushehro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad, Badin, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammad Khan, Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar.
Sources said the regional offices in Hyderabad and Sukkur have to deal with environmental issues of all 22 districts of the province.
SEPA has time and again written to the authorities for establishing offices in the above-mentioned districts, but to no avail, added the sources.
With only three teeth, Sindh’s environ watchdog a harmless poodle
