SC allows 2 months to crusher plants to meet necessary rules

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted the petition, seeking installation of power crushers plants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for hearing and accorded two-month time to the plants to meet the necessary rules and standards.A two-member bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Munib Akhtar, heard the case and issued notices to the respondents.

During the proceedings, the court observed that serious points of environmental pollution had been raised in the Suraj Gali area of KP. The bench also observed that new amendments to the rules were made without data or research. “The decision of the High Court was also accurate and the grounds were appropriate,” it added.

The advocate general KP said that the first power crusher plants were regulated in 1995. “Plants could not be installed to one kilometre from schools, colleges, hospitals, canals, sensitive areas and human populations,” he added.

He said that the impact of crushers on the environment was also taken into account. “There were three points to consider when installing power crushers,” he added.

He said that by law, noise pollution must be up to 55 decibels and vibration of plants should not exceed 3.5mm per second. “The effects of environmental pollution were reviewed in the third point,” he added.

Justice Munib Akhtar said the new rules did not define canals, cemeteries, roads, sensitive areas, pipelines and others.

The counsel replied that dictionary meanings would be taken for all these. He said that the purpose of keeping a distance of 300 and 500 meters was only to protect the environment from damage.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that according to the Environmental Protection Agency, residents could have respiratory ailments.

The counsel said that all environment-related complaints had been forwarded to the Environmental Tribunal.

Justice Munib Akhtar said that the PHC pointed out that these rules were unfair and the rights of local people were being affected. “If the high court was saying this, then what could the Supreme Court do,” he asked.

Justice Munib said that if the environmental agency fixed two kilometres distance and the rules allowed 500 meters distance, it would overlap. He said the high court had stated that old rules were fine.

The counsel said that the provisional government had stopped the crushers from working who were not following guidelines. Later, hearing of the case was adjourned till date in office.