Industrial waste, toxic gases and loud noises caused by industrial units in sector I-9 and I-10 of Islamabad are injurious for residents living in the nearby localities.
Sector I-9 and I- 10 of Islamabad is situated in Zone I. This zone includes developed residential sectors as per the city’s plan. But amazingly, two sub-sectors of I-9 and one sub-sector of I-10 have industrial units in them.
“These industrial sectors should not be located in residential areas. In fact, I-9 and I-10 were declared not to be part of the industrial zone at all, but due to the environmental issues we had to limit it to only three sub-sectors,” a CDA official said.
“Now, CDA has a plan to set-up I-17 as an industrial sector,” he added.
An I-10/4 resident Abdul Qudoos said, “We have paid out for our houses as residents of other sectors did. However, we have become the victims of extreme injustice since we are facing risky living conditions in this under-privileged sector,” he added.
Various kinds of manufacturing units were working in this locality, including flour mills, food processing plants, pharmaceuticals companies and ware houses. But the worse was steel re-rolling, casting and fabricating mills.
“Steel mills not only emit carbon and lead containing smoke but they also produce ear-piercing noises. Moreover, carts and heavy trucks when being loaded and unloaded not only blocked roads but also damaged them. That’s why all link and major roads in sector I-9 are in a poor condition,” Uzair Ali, a student at COMSATS and a resident of I-9/4 said.
CDA Environment Director General Dr Suleman Sheikh revealed that the steel mills were part of CDA’s negative list of those industries which were not permitted in Islamabad.
“We allowed steel mills which were already working to continue, and banned the establishment of any further steel mill.
Dr Sheikh said there was no way for the CDA to take action against these industrial units. It’s all about Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and we can complain to EPA if anyone is found violating the laws and polluting the environment. On the orders of the EPA, some steel mills have installed scrubs to filter the emitting smoke and have started taking other precautions as well,” he added.
