‘Lahore 5th most polluted city in world’, says MPA Khadeeja Umar
LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly (PA) on Wednesday passed the Environment Protection (Amendment) Bill 2017, despite serious concerns raised by the female members of the opposition parties.
After the bill was presented in the assembly, speaking on a point of order, PML-Q MPA Khadeeja Umar raised serious objections over the bill and lamented the government for not taking up the environment issue properly. She made a fiery speech on the environment challenges faced by the city which attracted huge applause from the opposition as well as treasury benches. “The Environment Protection (Amendment) Bill 2017 is nothing but eyewash. Mere clerical changes have been made in the bill regarding powers of the director general. This legislation will not meet environment challenges in Lahore.”
“The government is playing with the lives of the poor people. Who is responsible for the polluted water? Who is responsible for the worst air pollution in Lahore? There is no data available with the government departments to check the pollution. The Environment Protection Department lacks equipment to gauge the exact level of pollution in the city”, she said. She added that the seriousness of the PML-N government about environmental challenges can be gauged from the fact that it has not released funds for the Environment Protection Department for the last four years.
Khadija Umer claimed that Lahore is the fifth most polluted city in the world according to the reports of international organisations working on the environment but the government is not paying heed to it. “The PML-N government is only focusing on development projects at the cost of city’s environment.”
She urged the government to bring a comprehensive bill regarding environment and said, “Our future generations and the poor masses will not forgive us for damaging the environment to an alarming level in which our children will not be able to breathe due to the worst air pollution.”
Speaking on a point of order, PTI’s MPA Sadia Sohail Rana came hard on the sleepy government for ignoring the environment issue. She said: “We should take care of the environment irrespective of our political affiliations. The people are becoming lung cancer patients due to the worst air pollution. The whole water of Lahore is contaminated with arsenic and one out of three people are suffering from hepatitis due to toxic water.”
According to Sadia, energy saving bulbs imported from China are mixing mercury in the water as well as in the air after their disposal in the soil. There is no mechanism and method of dispose of these bulbs, she said. Sadia also demanded ban on polythene bags to protect the environment.
Despite serious concerns raised by the female members, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sana Ullah, while speaking on point of order, said that the new bill is compressive and will address all modern day challenges of the environment.
The house passed the bill with ease.
Earlier, the Punjab Assembly session started at around 11.40am, instead of 10:00 am, and the Question Hour started. These were quickly run through since most of the movers were not present in the assembly. Overall eight bills were passed in the assembly. The Punjab Medical Supplies Authority bill 2017 was also presented and the house referred it to Standing Committee for two months. The House was adjourned till 10am on Thursday.