Under a network programme effluent plants would be installed at five points for combating the environmental degradation in the country, official sources told Business Recorder here on Sunday that the proposed affluent plans would be installed at Sialkot, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Karachi to avert pollution threats caused by the industries and tanneries in these major cities of the country.
In Sialkot, work on Industrial for Tanneries Zone project would be executed in near future where combined effluent plant would be installed jointly by government and private sector on partnership basis.
The tanneries functioning in and around Sialkot would be shifted in this proposed zone under a specific formula, which ultimately help reduce pollution.
The government was endeavouring for providing pollution-free environment to the industrial sector to cope with new global standards. The industrial zone for tanneries would be developed on 300 acres of land and the Punjab government had allocated Rs 90 million for the project.
The aim of establishing industrial zone for tanneries is to shift all existing tanneries into zone because the proposed zone would be fully equipped with common treatment plant for controlling effluent and solid waste of tanneries. Currently in Sialkot, as many as 248 tanneries of different sizes are functioning in and close to Sialkot of which nine large, 79 medium and 160 small tanneries are functioning in the area.
The government has taken the step to cope with the pollution threats caused by the ill-planned establishment of tanneries in and close to Sialkot are posing serious threats to human life and gradually degrading the environmental conditions.
The present regime had focused its attention on coping with the constant threats of industrial pollution in the Punjab. For this purpose the government had already introduced "Self Monitoring and Reporting Tool" (SMART) programme in the industrial units for self-monitoring and self-evaluation of pollution in the Punjab.
These measures have been adapted to enabling the business community to fulfil the demands and requirements of World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime, which is fast approaching.
The regular functioning of industrial zone for tanneries would not help in reducing pollution load in tanneries cluster area but also improve the degraded environmental condition caused by the tanneries.