The City District Government Lahore mafia won and the 24 people, who perished in the Kharak factory incident, lost as none of the officials held responsible, including District Officer (Environment) Tariq Zaman, have been taken to task.
Instead a survey to identify the industrial units operating in the city’s residential areas has been started to distract attention from the real issue at hand. The survey, which was due to be conducted over the last 10 years, was approved last week by newly appointed Lahore District Coordination Officer Noor-ul-Ameen Mengal, following the directions of the Supreme Court.
According to the survey, 306 industrial units have been identified so far. Out of these, nine are operating in Ravi Town, 12 in Data Guj Buksh, 13 in Gulberg, 19 in Aziz Bhatti Town, 10 in Iqbal Town, 10 in Shalimar Town, 12 in Samnabad Town, 16 in Nishtar Town and 12 in Wagha Town.
The survey also found 68 industrial units operating in the densely populated area of Bund Road.
DCO Mengal told Pakistan Today that the survey was being conducted on the SC’s orders and would be completed in two months, after which its final report will be submitted to the Punjab government. When asked about the fate of Tariq Zaman and the others held responsible for the Kharak factory incidents, the DCO said he was not aware of it.
It is pertinent to mention here that former DCO Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta had issued orders for conducting a survey of the illegal industrial units in residential localities. Former nazim Mian Amer Mehmood had also ordered, in 2004, that the industrial units should be shifted away from the residential areas.
DO Tariq Zaman, who is also a personal staff officer of Mengal, was second in command to both the former nazim and DCO, but did not comply with their orders. Commissioner Jawad Rafique Malik had also directed the CDGL environment section, headed by Tariq Zaman, to identify illegal industrial units and to register criminal cases against them for creating environmental pollution.
Sources said Zaman had held the post of DO for the past 10 years, due to his political connections.
They stated that although chief secretaries, DCOs, EDOs and other officers have been transferred, but Zaman has managed to retain his post. A senior official in the Environment ministry said factories could not be established within 30 miles of the district courts.
Citing the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997, he stated that the industrial units needed to get NOCs from the CDGL and the Environment Protection Department, but that more than 80 percent of these units were operating without fulfilling basic legalities.
An official in the DCO’s office said Zaman had tried to get approval for establishing a CNG filling station on the Multan Road, Motorway interchange.
Although he got the NOC, the CDGL refused to sanction the CNG station as its construction would disrupt the traffic.
Officials yet to be held accountable for Kharak factory incident
