Pollution case: SC summons Mayor, CDA chairman

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday summoned the Municipal Corporation Islamabad (MCI) Mayor and Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman to appear before the court in environmental pollution case on Thursday.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah heard the suo moto notice case regarding environmental pollution in Islamabad’s Sector I-9 Industrial Area.

During the course of proceedings, the chief justice said the capital’s industrial area is in the middle of the city.

He asked who gave permission to establish an industrial zone within Islamabad city. The counsel for the CDA said it was part of the master plan.

The chief justice said he had heard that Islamabad and Canberra (an Australian city) were designed at the same time.

He remarked that the Canberra city was in same position in which it was designed, but Islamabad was touching Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from one side and Lahore from the other side.

He said the court would never allow Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and CDA to do that.

He said the buffer zone in the industrial area was demolished and asked who lived in this buffer zone. Justice Ijazul Ahsan said the green belts had also been demolished and asked where the industry regulators were. The chief justice asked who was representing the industry.

The representative of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry appeared before the court and said they had repeatedly approached the CDA for establishment of new industrial zone.

He said the CDA was going to establish a new industrial zone in Islamabad’s Sector I-17. The chief justice said I-17 sector would be centre of the city after 10 years.

He said the textile style industry should be established in Islamabad while the steel factories should be shifted to Gujranwala or Peshawar.

The chief justice asked the Director General Environmental Protection Agency Farzana Altaf that her department was also not working.

Farzana Altaf said her department did not have an inspector.

She said the department was implementing the apex court’s November 15, 2018 verdict.

She said warehouses were being established instead of industry in Islamabad.

The chief justice said the whole nation had become shopkeepers and were selling smuggled and foreign items. “Shops are visible in the entire country,” he added.

He said Lawrancepur was making world’s best wool clothes which had been closed now.

He asked what happened with the artisans who were working in handicrafts and other industries.

He said the court did not want industries closed.

The court asked the departments for full implementation of law, he added.

He said the establishment of steel industry in Islamabad was beyond his understanding. The chief justice said Margallah hills would disappear in one week if the court allowed changing in the master plan.

He said garbage was visible everywhere in capital’s Blue Area.

He said the MCI Mayor was spending more time in London than Islamabad.

He said school, colleges and universities should be established instead of industry.

He observed that there were no roads in I-9 industrial area.

He said the industrial area would have to be removed from the Sector I-9. The chief justice said the CDA had violated the court orders, adding the CDA did not know with whom they were playing.

He said judiciary was the third pillar of the state and the CDA was like a small fish in the state.

The chief justice said the court would intervene if the law was not being implemented. The court sought replies from the representative of Chamber of Commerce and Industry and DG EPA to stop environmental pollution.

The court summoned MCI Mayor and CDA chairman on Thursday and adjourned hearing of the case.