SHC seeks reports on Keamari gas leakage

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the environmental watchdog of the province and the Ministry of National Food Security & Research’s Department of Plant Protection (DPP) to submit detailed reports on the alleged gas leak in Keamari that claimed the lives of 17 people and affected hundreds.

Hearing a petition seeking an inquiry into the Keamari incident, a division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar asked a provincial law officer who was responsible for the gas leakage and what were the reasons for the deaths in the incident.

The SHC observed that the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has been directed to submit a detailed report on the incident but no final report had been submitted. A Sepa representative had earlier told the high court that initial investigations suggested that soya bean dust was the cause of deaths; however, a DPP official did not agree on that.

The investigation officer (IO) of the Jackson police station submitted that six FIRs had been registered over the incidents but the same were disposed of due to lack of sufficient evidence. The high court expressed concern over the disposal of cases under A class and directed the SSP concerned to submit details of investigations into the incident. The bench directed the IO to appear before the court on February 11 for further orders that may be passed after the submission of the final report by Sepa.

The SHC directed the DPP’s entomologist to appear before the court to verify the responsibility of fumigation as the Karachi Port Trust’s (KPT) report of March 4, 2020, stated that fumigation was the responsibility of the DPP. The high court directed representatives of the KPT and the SSP concerned to appear before the court on the next hearing.

Petitioner Abdul Jalil Khan Marwat said as many as 17 people lost their lives and hundreds were affected due to the mysterious poisonous gas leak in the port area.

He said the federal and provincial authorities had failed to protect the lives of the citizens and no precautionary measures had been taken by the port authorities to prevent the deadly leak. He sought an independent inquiry into the incident as well as a direction to the government to compensate the legal heirs of the deceased and the affected citizens.

On a plea with regard to the increase of essential commodities’ prices, the high court also directed the Karachi Commissioner Office to file comments on efforts being made to control the prices of the essential commodities. The SHC also directed the food secretary to submit comments on a petition with regard to shortage of flour and hoardings in the province.