Sepa fines 19 more industrial units for breaching laws

The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) on Friday imposed a collective fine of Rs5.5 million on 19 industrial units for violating environmental laws including discharge of effluent in open spaces and failing to conduct environmental impact assessments before launching the projects.

“Today, Director General SEPA Baqaullah Unar imposed a fine of Rs5.5 million on 19 companies, including factories, textile mills, water purification plants and housing projects for violating sections 11 and 17 of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014,” said a spokesman for the environmental watchdog.

The section 11 of the environmental protection act concerns discharge of effluent from industries and emission of hazardous gasses, while section 17 of the provincial environmental law deals with initial environmental examination (IEE) and environmental impact assessment (EIA) before the launch of any development project.

However, to counter Sepa’s efforts, which gained momentum this week, industrial associations have begun discussions to form a strategy. Reports are that the aggrieved associations would hold a protest soon.

Environmental experts observed that majority of the industrial units including public sector bodies violate environmental laws but their influence and authority has rendered environmental authorities incapable of taking any concrete steps against them.

Earlier this week, the environmental agency had fined four industrial units and had issued warnings to 28 others for pollution. Alucan Pvt Limited, Alkhair Dying and Schneider Electric were fined Rs200,000, while Adamjee Textiles was fined Rs100,000.

The industrial unit’s management was warned of being prosecuted in the court of law if the violations of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014 continued, whereas the 28 factories were also warned of refraining from violations by being issued the Environmental Protection Order (EPO).

In February this year, the province’s environmental watchdog had shut down six factories in different industrial areas of Karachi after their representatives failed to prove that they were not responsible for polluting the Lyari and Malir rivers.

After hearing the arguments of representatives of the factories accused of pollution, the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) took action under Section 21 of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014.

The watchdog directed them to immediately close down their operations because they were discharging untreated industrial effluent into the rivers, a Sepa official had told The News.

The factories ordered to halt production include pharmaceutical companies, textile factories, ghee and oil mills, and lubricant and steel factories located in SITE, Bin Qasim, Korangi, Landhi, North Karachi and Federal B Industrial areas.

The watchdog had also directed another 24 companies and firms to submit reports of their environmental audit within 30 days, while CEOs of eight companies were asked to appear before the Sepa director general within the next two days and prove to him that they were not damaging the environment.

The Sepa official said they had issued notices to 107 factories and industries in Karachi for violating environmental laws, and polluting air and water by discharging industrial effluent into the environment without treatment. Representatives of 37 of the 107 factories and industries appeared before the Sepa DG at his office and cleared their position, while the remaining would appear before the environmental watchdog in the coming days.