SC seeks comments from Centre, Sindh on plea for air pollution control

The Supreme Court on Sunday directed the provincial advocate general, additional attorney general, Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) and the ministry of climate change to file comments on an application seeking directives to the government to take necessary steps for curbing air pollution.

The petitioner, Veno Advani, has submitted in the application that Pakistan’s urban air pollution rate was among the most severe in the world, and it was significantly damaging human health as well as the national economy.

He referred to a report prepared by the World Bank which states that Pakistan is the most urbanised country in South Asia and is still undergoing rapid motorisation and increase in energy use. The resultant air pollution, particularly in large urban centres, was damaging people’s health and quality of life and contributing to environmental degradation.

The petitioner submitted that the report mentions that from 2007 to 2011, the reported levels of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and lead were many times higher than the World Health Organisation’s air quality guidelines. Also, the number of premature deaths and illnesses caused by air pollution exceeds most other high profile causes of public health problems.

He submitted that an increase in number of vehicles and industrial facilities, and emissions from large-scale facilities, such as cement, fertiliser, sugar, steel, and power plants, many of which use furnace oil that is high in sulfur content, are a major contributor to poor air quality.

Moreover, a wide range of small- to medium-scale industries, including brick kilns, steel re-rolling, steel recycling and plastic molding, also contribute substantially to urban air pollution through their use of ‘waste’ fuels such as old tyres, paper, wood and textile waste.

The petition states that more than 54,000 tonnes of solid waste are generated daily, most of which is either dumped in low-lying areas or burnt, while farmers across the country also burn cane fields to ease harvesting, resulting in high concentrations of particulate matter of less than 10 microns being found in rural areas in Punjab and Sindh.

The petitioner suggested that environmental agencies could be strengthened to play a more active role in minimising the negative external effects of the expected increase in industrialisation and urbanisation, particularly through efforts for air pollution control.

He said Pakistan’s severe urban air pollution problem warranted a series of coordinated interventions to strengthen air quality monitoring, build institutional capacity of the responsible agencies, carry out targeted policy reforms and investments, and fill existing knowledge gaps.

He requested the court take appropriate steps to strengthen short-term and long-term air quality monitoring by implementation of air quality regulations and by improving the capacity of the judiciary to enforce environmental laws.

The three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar directed the federal and provincial governments, Sepa, ministry of climate change and other respondents to

file comments at the next hearing.