DG SEPA’s surprise visit: Poor environmental conditions found in 5 mills

F.P. Report

KARACHI: The Director-General of Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) Naeem Ahmed Mughal paid a surprise visit to five textile mills and monitored their production activities with regard to environmental standards on Friday here.

He found that none of the five mills was fully complying with the environmental laws of Sindh and most of their environmental affairs were not up to the mark.

Escorted by Director Karachi Region Dr. Ashique Ali Langah and other technical officials Naeem Mughal visited 1) Qasim, 2) Rajby,3) Lucky, 4) Popular and 5) Zaman textile mills in District Malir and enquired about their level of environmental compliance.

He also asked them about their mandatory environmental approval before establishing their operational setup and also investigated if their effluent is being treated as per the required standard before its release into the water bodies.

None of the mills could have given a satisfactory answer to the above questions which implied that they were not fully complying with the environmental standards of the province.

He directed their representatives to appear in person before him on 19 February along with documentary evidence of their compliance with the concerned clauses of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act of 2014.

On this occasion, he said in his statement that he will keep paying surprise visits to industries and hospitals in various districts of Sindh to not only cross-check the performance of his monitoring team but also to check if industries are fully complying with the environmental standards practically.

He further said that Advisor to CM Sindh on Law, Environment, Climate Change, and Coastal Development Barrister Murtuza Wahab has directed to take necessary action against polluters indiscriminately and no leniency may be granted to them.

It may be mentioned that while expediting its monitoring activities, SEPA in the recent past took strict action against polluting factories and also sealed many manufacturing units on their continued violations.

It may be pointed out that under Sections 11 and 14 of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act 2014 all industries are bound to treat their effluent and wastewater before releasing it into the water bodies. In case of non-compliance, they may be fined and on their continued violations their operations may be stopped.