‘Safe drinking water not available to Lahorites’

LAHORE: WWF-Pakistan conducted a two-day capacity building session for stakeholders on compliance to national and international environmental laws, standards and obligations along with associated economic aspects.

Punjab Irrigation Research Institute Director Engineer Ghulam Zakir Hassan Sial was the guest of honour on the second day. He said safe drinking water was not available to Lahorites, and groundwater was depleting at a rate of 2.5 feet per year. If this rate continues a time would come when there would be no safe water available for future generations of Lahore.

The workshop’s second day was held under the project titled International Labour and Environmental Standards (ILES), Application in Pakistan’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) at a local hotel here on Wednesday.

The six-year ILES project, funded by the European Union, is jointly being implemented by WWF-Pakistan with the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Lahore, Karachi, Sialkot and Faisalabad.

On the first day, Environmental Lawyer Raffay Alam said sjudiciary had played important role in introducing environmental laws. He quoted the example of clean drinking water, which was declared a fundamental right. Environmental EconomistJunaid Ahmed informed participants about the cost associated of pollution through Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY).

Ministry of Climate Change representative Shafqat Abbas said, “The textile and leather industries were key contributors of carbon emissions in the country. There was a dire need for proper incorporation and implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), within local laws.”

Punjab Environmental Protection Department (EPD) Director Projects Dr Javed Iqbal speaking as the guest of honour of the first-day said Pakistan was a water-stressed country and access to safe drinking water in rural and urban areas was declining and provision of potable water was a key issue that people face. He said lack of acceptance from the public made it difficult for the authorities concerned to implement the environmental laws. On the second day, Arjmand Qayyum Amjad trained the participants about Smart Environmental Management Practices (SEMPs) in textile value chain through three sessions. He informed the audience about issues in the SMEs including cleaner production practices, energy efficiency and chemical management in the processes.

Punjab Irrigation Research Institute Director Engineer Ghulam Zakir Hassan Sial was the guest of honour on the second day. He said safe drinking water was not available to Lahorites, and groundwater was depleting at a rate of 2.5 feet per year. If this rate continues a time would come when there would be no safe water available for future generations of Lahore.

bonus: The working class would continue the struggle to establish a society based on democracy and social justice as enunciated by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. These views were expressed by veteran trade union leader Khurshid Ahmed, general secretary of All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union CBA, while addressing a conferece of electricity workers held at Bakhtiar Labour Hall on Wednesday to extend thank you to the Lesco authorites on sanctioning one month bonus to the Lesco employees.

Khurshid Ahmed urged the workers spare no effort to provide better services to the consumers. He thanked the Lesco CEO for accepting the demands of the workers.