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The Ministry of Environment informed the Senate Environmental Body meeting here on Thursday that a Rs 35.450 million annual development scheme for controlling vehicular emission has been approved.
The project is being managed by Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), and equipment had been procured and the staffing of the project was complete, the ministry officials told the meeting. The ministry tendered the information after the Standing Committee's insistence that the ministry should prepare a plan for protecting mangrove forests, which are sort of fish hatcheries and also a place for breeding rare marine species. Any failure in this task would badly affect Pakistan's exports of fish and shrimps.
In addition, the committee meeting, with Muhammad Ali Brohi in the chair, also took notice of increasing industrial, riverine pollution as well as pollution caused by vehicular traffic.
Pernicious discharge in rivers, which is destroying environments along the route of River Indus system, which is the lifeline in the country was also on the agenda of the committee, which wondered why good environmental laws of the country were not given effect to.
"We must sponsor projects to protect our water resources and keep reservoirs filled to the brim with clean and fresh water," observed members of the standing committee. They also wanted an eco-friendly transport system in Karachi, and asked that CNG busses should be plied in the metropolis by June this year and asked that the project should not be delayed.
The committee also called for undertaking efficient measures to keep the environment clean and healthy for the sake of our future generations, and said that industry treatment plants should be established in big cities, and finance for such projects should be provided expeditiously by city governments, especially, in Karachi.
It also pressed for a foolproof and transparent procedure for issue of fitness certificates to buses and trucks, since these vehicles were notorious for harmful emissions. On this subject, the Secretary of the Environment Ministry informed the committee about an improved system for determining fitness of motor vehicles as regards emissions.
The system has been finalised and already the CDWP has approved a pilot project of this nature at Islamabad, but such centres would also be duplicated on private-public partnership basis in more cities. Shuja-ul-Mulk, Bibi Yasmeen Shah, Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada, Sardar Mohammad Jamal Khan Leghari, Maulana Rahat Hussain, Syed Muhammad Hussain and Farooq Hamid Naek attended the committee meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2008

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