‘Bureaucratic hurdles to blame for failure of environmental laws’

Provincial secretary Baqaullah Unnar says people in Sindh still drinking poisonous water as untreated effluent continues to be dumped in freshwater bodies

The provincial environment, climate change and coastal development secretary publicly conceded that the Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014, had failed to yield the desired results, largely because of “bureaucratic hurdles and other unforeseen reasons”.

“This law could not help conserve environment in the province, as people are still compelled to drink poisonous water,” deplored Baqaullah Unnar while speaking at a seminar held in connection with World Environment Day on Tuesday.

He said heaps of garbage could be witness in the province’s capital, Karachi, and millions of gallons of sewage were being discharged into the sea without any treatment despite promulgation of environmental laws.

For Unnar, the main reason behind the failure to implement the environmental protection act were “bureaucratic hurdles” and, consequently, “environmental conditions were worsening with everyday passing".

Stating other reasons behind the deteriorating environmental conditions, the environment Secretary despite introducing several provincial and federal laws to prevent people from creating pollution, the masses did not pay any heed to follow the environmental laws. “Nor the people care for the Islamic injunctions, as the religion has declared cleanliness as half faith.”

He said people in Sindh were forced to drink poisonous water as industrial effluent and sewage was being discharge into freshwater bodies. “On the other hand, millions of gallons of sewage are being poured into the sea without any treatment.”

Talking about the metropolitan, he said Karachi was marred with heaps of garbage and litter was being burnt openly, causing air pollution and respiratory ailments. “There is an immense need for creating awareness among people as well as regulatory bodies regarding taking environmental protection measures.”

Along with disposing of garbage in a proper manner, he said, there was a dire need to address the growing problem of vehicular emissions and industrial air pollution on a priority basis.

The environment secretary, however, vowed to take all proper measures to curb pollution in Sindh. “We will do the needful to ensure that people live in healthy environmental conditions in the province.”

The seminar titled “Connecting People to Nature” was organized by the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) in connection with World Environment Day 2017 and it was addressed by senior water experts, academicians and environmentalists. A large number of people associated with conservation of nature, wildlife and natural resources attended the conference.

In his keynote speech, Prof Dr M A K Lodhi from the Texas Tech University, United States of America, talked about the energy conservation and called for taking measures to lower emphasis on burning of fossil fuel to minimise the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

He emphasised on the conservation of energy and exploring renewable resources of energy to connect people with nature. He hoped that in the days to come, reliance on fossil fuels would be minimised despite the fact that US President Trump had announced withdrawing from the Paris accord – a move that has been condemned from all quarters in the world.

Another speaker, water technologist Dr Ahsan Siddiqui called for promoting organic food in the country and claimed that toxic heavy metals were being found in the fruits and vegetables as well as chicken due to it feed, use of untreated sewage and industrial effluent in the irrigation purposes.

Environmentalist and former Karachi University registrar Dr Moazzam Khan called for promoting environmental awareness among people as well as including the environmental studies as a subject at schools.