Although, the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) is supposed to look after the ever-growing problem of pollution in the entire province, but on the contrary, the agency is working in three cities only, namely Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, while ignoring the rest of the province, Pakistan Today has learnt.
It was disclosed in a meeting with the officials of the environmental watchdog that it had functional offices only in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur. However, the remaining districts of the province remained exempted from the environmental watchdog for the last several years, reflecting the apathetic attitude of the government functionaries towards this important issue.
The SEPA was established in July 1989, and it functioned under the control of different departments falling under the provincial government. Presently, SEPA was working under the control of Environment and Alternative Energy department since October 2002.
It was responsible for monitoring, regulating and enforcement of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997. Besides, the agency’s duty was to ensure enforcement of the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) and Self Monitoring & Reporting Tool (SMART).
SEPA had to evaluate and approve Environmental Impact Assessment and Initial Environmental Examination (EIA&IEE) and had to advise and coordinate with the government, NGOs etc on preventive measures for overcoming environment-related pollution. It was also assigned the task of assisting local authorities and government departments to implement schemes for proper disposal of waste to ensure compliance with NEQS and to enhance awareness among the masses.
Currently, Sindh had been at risk from several local and global environmental threats, including air pollution, drinking water contamination, domestic & industrial waste water, marine pollution, municipal and industrial solid waste, hospital waste, industrial hazardous waste, noise pollution, desertification/deforestation, agro-chemicals, biodiversity under severe degradation /destruction, sea intrusion and risks of oil spills at ports.
The environmental watchdog had been receiving dozens of complaints from interior parts of the province regarding environmental pollution, however, they remained unattended due to lack of staff and the officers.
The districts where SEPA had yet to establish its offices, included Thatta, Jamshoro, Dadu, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Khairpur Mirs, Naushehro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad, Badin, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Tando Mohammad Khan, Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar.
The regional offices of Hyderabad and Sukkur have to cover all 22 districts of province regarding environment issues, they said, adding that SEPA had time and again written to the authorities for the establishment of offices in above mentioned districts, however, no heed was paid to this issue by the officials concerned.
