against pollution.”
Naeem Mughal, director general of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), said 12,000 tones of wastage had been collected and dumped in a place near Karachi every day, “where one cannot stand for a few minutes due to bad smell”.
That waste was a wealth universally if treated and utilised, he said.
“We have been striving to make our environment clean. Society has to cooperate in eliminating environmental pollution,” Mughal said.
“Our people cannot avoid using polythene bags despite knowing about their hazardous effects on environment. Polythene bags take 400 years to degrade, causing a great danger to the marine ecosystem as well.”
He said his department was doing its best to find a remedy for the problems, but wherever it identified them, it faced a shortage of funds.
Dr Tahir Masood, chairman of the Department of Mass Communication, Karachi University, expressed his concern over political and psychological impacts of environmental pollution.
“Noise pollution is pushing the city into a state of depression. We are not getting the quality of life we deserve,” he lamented.
The Rabita Forum International presented mementos to the speakers and certificates to the students of the Karachi Universality’s Environmental Institute and the Mass Communication Department.
Earlier, a lawyer, Zafar Imam, presented the welcome address.
At the seminar, Sindh Environment Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro was conspicuous by his absence, who had been invited to attend the event as the chief guest.
Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra, adviser to the chief minister, expressed his distress over excessive pollution in the city.
“I have been an MNA from Korangi and Ibrahim Hyderi. You cannot imagine how polluted they are. I wonder how people are living a miserable life in such polluted areas,” he said.
Shujra stressed the need to make the seminar productive and fruitful in order to reduce environmental pollution. “We talk much and do nothing. In my life, I have been listening to ideas which cannot have any practical implementation.”