Passage of 18th Amendment renders PEPC useless: EPA

Islamabad

Director General of Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) Farzana Altaf Shah has said the successive governments have failed to implement the laws due to which Pakistan is facing growing challenges related to its natural environment.

"Pakistan Environment Protection Council (PEPC) was established under the chairmanship of the prime minister but after passage of the 18th Amendment it rendered useless and it has not held its meeting for last six years," she said.

She said effective laws were introduced in the past but if laws are not implemented they lose their value mean they are of no benefit to the people and the environment, adding "Though Islamabad is a green capital but despite that it is facing environment pollution that includes air, water, noise, and industrial and domestic pollution."

Farzana Altaf said the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act of 1997 provisions overrule all other laws, meaning the provisions have effect despite inconsistencies in other laws when the Act is still in force as per Section 33.  She pointed out that the industries are reluctant to invest in the environmental practices so they often never take care of the pollution they are spreading and just focus on generating money at the cost of public health and environmental deterioration.