After the pressure posed by the Lahore High Court (LHC), the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reopened its environmental laboratories after keeping them at a halt for more than two years.
However, sources revealed that this was a tactic by the EPA to avoid court action, as these laboratories, which have reopened, are not in a condition to function efficiently.
The environmental laboratories which are considered as the backbone of the EPA are the only means to test and analyse samples of air, water, soil, or waste sent to it by any factory or person authorised by the Federal Agency or a Provincial Agency to determine whether such samples are at par with the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS). The EPA can enforce the environmental laws on the basis of tests carried out by these laboratories. Keeping the laboratories up to date is the main responsibility of the EPA’s Monitoring, Laboratories & Implementation (ML&I) section which has, so far, failed to keep these functional.
These laboratories had been fully functional from 2008 till 2011. During this period, thousands of environmental tests were carried out in the laboratories. In 2011, EPA received rupees 82 million under ADP scheme (2011-2016) to keep the equipment in the laboratories functional, but the department failed to do so. This scribe has learned that after a corruption scandal surfaced regarding EPA in the procurement of equipment; some officials tried to cover the shenanigan by stating that the laboratories were not able to produce standard results. However, sources revealed that these laboratories were capable of testing and analysing all of the parameters which EPA is required to, till as late as 2014. They said that the laboratories were closed only on the orders of former director general EPA Javed Iqbal after he took the charge in June 2015.
“The laboratories and its staffers were able to collect the environmental samples and were capable of analysing the parameters when these laboratories were closed”, they added.
They revealed that these laboratories were in good condition before they were closed and the relevant officials tried not to restart them. They further said that these laboratories needed chemicals worth millions to become functional but officials remained reluctant to provide necessary chemicals for up to more than two years.
Sources further said that EPA had issued some necessary chemicals which can be used for testing wastewater parameters. “There are 32 parameters for wastewater, but such chemicals can produce a test for seven parameters”, they said adding that every laboratory is provided with such a small quantity of chemicals that it can only be used for 50 tests.
Moreover, sources revealed that the district labs had been functional just for a time period of two months.
When contacted, EPA director ML&I Tauqir Qureshi said that the basic problem the agency faced was the lack of staff. “Now EPA labs have been reopened after recruitment of competent staff”, he said adding that the training and capacity building of old and new staff has been started and soon, laboratories would be functional. On a query, Tauqir stated that it was the criminal negligence of former Secretary EPD Anwar Rasheed who intentionally hampered the efficiency of EPA.
