Naimat Khan
KARACHI: In Pakistani port city of Karachi 280 million gallons of waste is daily dumped in the sea, it was disclosed during National Assembly’s Standing Committee meeting here on Thursday.
A meeting of National Assembly standing committee on port and shipping was held at KPT head office, which was attended by all members of the committee besides the minister for ports and shipping Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bisenjo. The meeting was chaired by Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah.
The agenda of meeting was to confirm minutes of previous meeting held on 7th September 2017, to discuss and present report on starred questions number 44 moved by Dr Arif Alvi regarding the encroachment in China Creek related to KPT. The matter was later referred to the Standing Committee on 10th August 2017, to present report of sub-committee of standing Committee on Ports and Shipping under the Convenership of MNA Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani. It was suggested that steps should be taken in the light of recommendation made by the standing committee during meeting held on 4th May 2016 for checking the dumping of waste in sea waters and their impact on marine life.
During the meeting the committee was informed that 280 million gallons of waste is daily dumped in sea. The report of the Sub-Committee was presented by Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani (Convener) which was endorsed and approved by the Committee.
During the proceedings of the Committee meeting, the federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Senator Mir Hasil Bisenjo also informed the members of the committee about the vigilant Port Security Force squad of KPT patrolling the encroached land and the steps that the port has taken so far to thwart the encroachment from the China Creek area in line with the prevailing rules and regulations of government.
With regards to the dumping of waste in sea waters, he further informed the Committee that this can be resolved through recycling of the waste falling in sea waters through various culverts of the city and work. In this regard, he said, work is already underway whereas meetings with Governor Sindh and Chief Minister for K-IV project have taken place and that Chairman KPT Mumtaz Shah has also met Governor Sindh recently in this regard.
It was decided to call all the stakeholders, the Provincial Governments of Sindh and Balochistan, Marine Fisheries Department, the departments of Fisheries and Ports in the next meeting to resolve the pollution issues amicably.
Moreover, the issues pertaining to territorial waters jurisdictions will be discussed in the next meeting. It was also decided that a PAC sub-committee headed by Dr. Arif Alvi is already working on this issue and its report will be taken into consideration by the Standing Committee in its next scheduled meeting.
Besides the Minister for Maritime Affairs, Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bisenjo, members national assembly Muhammad Tufail, Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan, Meher Ishtiaque Ahmed, Ms Seema Mohiuddin Jameel, Ms Shaheen Shafique, Ms Rumina Khursheed Alam, Pir Muhammad Astern Bodhla, Mr Khalil George, Mir Amir All Khan Magas, Mr. Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar, Dr. Arif Alvi (Mover) and Secretary Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Senior Officers of Ministry and KPT attended the meeting.
