KARACHI, Dec 19: The Sindh Assembly was informed on Monday that no law existed in Sindh to control vehicular emissions as, after the passage of the 18th amendment to the constitution, the province was yet to enact the environmental protection act.

This was stated by Sindh Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed while responding to supplementary questions of legislators during the question-hour session on behalf of Environment Minister Sheikh Mohammad Afzal, who was not present in the house due to his engagements.

He said that the subject of environment had completely been devolved to the provinces after the 18th amendment, but the environmental protection act was yet to be enacted in Sindh.

He expressed the hope that a bill in this regard would be tabled in the house by the next session.

About vehicular emissions, the minister said that the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), through its vehicular emission control programme, randomly checked vehicles to ascertain whether the vehicular emissions were within the declared National Environment Quality Standards (NEQS).

In the years 2010 and 2011, he said, a total of 14,506 vehicles were examined, out of which 2,530 had been found releasing emissions in defiance of the declared NEQS.

He said some sugar mills in the province were violating the parameters of Sepa by releasing harmful effluent.

He said cases against four sugar mills had been filed before the Environmental Protection Tribunal, but all of them were pending as the cases were registered under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency, a federal body, that stood defunct after the passage of the 18th amendment.

Thatta & Badin vulnerable to sea intrusion

Responding to a query of MPA Heer Ismail Soho regarding the assertions of international environmental experts that after 20 years Thatta and Badin districts would be submerged by sea water, the minister said that the geographical location of these districts make them vulnerable to effects of climate change and resultant sea intrusion. However, an authentic viewpoint on the basis of a focused study was not available, he added.

MPA Humaira Alwani argued on the point, saying the Thatta district administration had conducted a study back in 1996 wherein it established that 1.2 million acres of land was completely submerged by sea water. Likewise, Dr Sikandar Mandhro, while backing Ms Alwani's viewpoint, said that the federal flood commission had also conducted a thorough study on the subject, and the environment department must go through it.

A scheme assessment of the environmental issues in Sindh for viable future planning and remedial measures at a cost of Rs28 million had been proposed in the non-lending technical assistance being provided by the World Bank. However, funding from the WB was still awaited, said the minister.

He further informed the house that Sepa had established two environmental monitoring stations — one in North Nazimabad and the other in Korangi Industrial Area — with the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

In response to a question of MPA Nusrat Seher Abbasi regarding pollution level in freshwater lakes, Mr Ahmed read out the environment minister's written reply and said that in the wake of heavy floods in 2010, the pollution level in major lakes of Sindh had reduced due to the inflow of freshwater.

In reply to another question of Ms Alwani regarding use of banned chemicals by factories and companies, the minister in his written reply stated that the import of harzardous chemicals was controlled by the federal government through the ministry of commerce and the ministry of environment. However, Sepa monitored various industries to check whether these were complying with the country's environmental laws, he said, adding that during the period ranging between Jan 2009 and July 2010 no such industry was found using banned chemicals.

He went on to say that a list of such industries which had been granted permission by the federal government was being procured so that they could be monitored accordingly by Sepa.

In reply to another question of Ms Soho, the minister in his written answer said that due to regular monitoring and persuasion by Sepa, most sugar mills in Sindh had now developed systems for treatment of liquid wastewater through lagoons and other chemical processes.

He said that nearly all the 32 sugar mills in Sindh were monitored and action was initiated against the polluting factories.