F.P. Report
KARACHI: Sindh Government’s spokesperson and Adviser to CM Sindh on Law, Environment, Climate Change, and Coastal Development Barrister Murtaza Wahab has said that setting up of new factories without treatment plants would not be allowed across the province as there is no point in such development at the cost of irreparable damage to our natural environment.
In a high-level review meeting on provincial environmental laws with Secretary Environment, Climate Change and Coastal Development Department Government of Sindh Muhammad Aslam Ghauri and Director General Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) Naeem Ahmad Mughal, the Environmental Adviser said that to speed up the implementation of laws, they should be framed in such a way that no delay occurs in their implementation and those who spread pollution cannot escape from them.
He said that to ensure sustainability in industrial and construction development, amendments should be made in the relevant provisions of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act to make them more effective and bring more transparency in their implementation to keep the wheel of development going with no disturbance in the protection of the environment.
In this regard, he directed DG SEPA to immediately formulate guidelines for the treatment of industrial wastewater so that there would be no delay in the process of disposal of industrial effluent.
He added that the aspect of environmental self-accountability should also be kept in mind as much as possible, however, the role of SEPA in law enforcement should be gradually enhanced.
He expressed satisfaction that with the access of environmental monitoring to more or less all the districts of the province has been enabled, while industrialists and builders are also being encouraged to bring sustainability in their business affairs, the positive effects of which will soon begin to appear on the ground.
The Environmental Adviser said that the capacity of SEPA’s environmental monitoring and law enforcement sections should be further enhanced and through their joint efforts, environmental violations should be dealt with indiscriminately.
Murtaza Wahab added that the framework for enforcing environmental laws should be structured in such a way that no ambiguity or complication arises at any level during implementation so that there is no conflict or any unnecessary misunderstanding between law enforcers and those who are being enforced.
He said that our industries and our construction sector are playing an important role in the development of the province and the Government of Sindh is providing them all possible facilities in this regard so that the private and public sectors together work for the province and our country to make it a hub of sustainable development.
