Deputy Director Environment Shahid Mehmood said that fresh notices have been issued to six newly established tanneries on Lahore-Ferozpur road under Environment Protection Act, on Tuesday. These notices were served on Riaz Tannery, Syed Akram, Sovineer Tannery, Hafeez Tannery, Dada Enterprises and Muhammad Hussain Tanneries, asking them to set up treatment plants for their wastes.
On this occasion District Environment Officer Kasur Muhammad Azhar Iqbal said, the tanneries were being built among Naqeebabad, Bhaloo and Wadana villages. He said there were a total of 12 tanneries six of them had been closed down, while Riaz, Hafeez and Dada Enterprise had started to set up treatment plants after receiving the notices. The environment officer said stern action would be taken against the owner, who would set up tannery without approval.
The wastes of the 237 tanneries in an around Kasur, which process 160 tonnes of wet salted hides and 15 tonnes of skins daily, was being poured into drains after treatment at the Kasur Tannery Pollution Control Project (KTPCP) plant. Dr Muhammad Shafiq and other senior doctors said almost 30 percent population of the district had been suffering from gastro-intestinal problems, while around five per cent have liver diseases.
"No data is available but many women have contracted cancer", they said. The treatment plant project became functional at a cost of Rs 424.476 million. At present the working of plant is not satisfactory, as many machines have gone out of order. Four people including owner of Hafiz Tannery had died in an accident on July 25 last year while removing waste from a chemical well at Niaznagar.
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