The Supreme Court on Monday summoned for Tuesday owners of 11 mineral water companies and warned if they failed to appear their names would be placed on exit control list (ECL). Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a suo motu case of selling bottled water by extracting groundwater without any charge and fitness for human consumption.
Hearing a case against extraction of water from Kattas Raj pond, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar also directed DG Khan Cement to deposit Rs 800 million as price of natural water utilized by it and Rs 200 million as penalty in the dam fund establishment by the Supreme Court.
Representing Nestle Water Company, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan requested the Chief Justice to hear the matter on November 30 after his (CJP) visit to United Kingdom. The CJ turned down the request and asked the counsel should he prefer the foreign tour to a case of public importance. "Are those who have been selling substandard water to nation deserve concession?" the Chief Justice asked the counsel.
Other member of the bench Justice Ijazul Ahsan regretted that the companies had been earning billions of rupees but they had no water testing laboratory. Meanwhile, a report submitted by Environment Protection Agency disclosed that the bottled water companies had been extracting underground water worth Rs 9 million per hour in main cities of Punjab. It said the companies had no laboratory to analyze fitness of the underground water for human consumption.
The report confirmed that the underground water being extracted and used by the companies contained fluoride and arsenic.
A report submitted by the EPA also established that the cement factory had extracted groundwater through multiple tube wells. The Chief Justice ordered that only two tube wells would remain functional but for the utilization of domestic and community's use. He directed the EPA to keep monitoring of the factory for six months and submit its report if it extracted water from tube well again for industrial purposes.
Comments
Comments are closed.