Over 17 million population in the metropolis is suffering from environmental pollution and practical steps are needed to reduce it, said Secretary Information Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) Women Wing, Sindh, Sharmila Farooqui.
Sharmila, said "hundreds of thousands of industrial units, plying over 16,000 vehicles daily in the city and industrial and sewerage waste have increased pollution in Karachi to alarming level," said a statement issued here on Sunday. Unfortunately, no measures were taken to reduce pollution level in the city, she said adding that such negligence of relevant departments had caused suffering of hundred of thousands of people from sigh and lungs related diseases in the mega city.
Most of 16,000 vehicles plying on the roads in Karachi daily were smoke-emitting and neither relevant institutions nor the drivers were paying attention to get maintenance of their vehicles in order to bring pollution level down, she observed. Sharmila said that daily over 8,000 tons of sewage and industrial waste of Karachi city were drained out into the sea, which has also caused surge in pollution, not only in sea-waters but also in the air in the metropolis. She recalled that when she was a member of the Provincial Cabinet, She had raised voice to take action against flaws and faults in public and private transport system adding she even dressed in a 'burqa' travelled in a mini-passengers' bus to observe its contribution to surging level of pollution and misbehave of its staff with ladies' commuters.