LAHORE: The Environment Commission on Air & Water Pollution has approved constitution of the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) committee which will work out modalities for formulation of uniform national environmental quality standards.

It is pertinent to add that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had constituted the Environment Commission on Air & Water Pollution headed by Dr Pervez Hassan. A notification of the Punjab government issued on Thursday further said that Dr Muhammad Bashir (Director General EPA, KPK) will be the convener of this seven member committee having DGs and Directors of EPA Islamabad, EPA Punjab, EPA Balochistan, EPA Sindh, EPA Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK as its members.

The terms of references assigned to the committee include comparison of existing environmental quality standards of all EPAs with standards of other countries of the region and assessment of hurdles/discrepancies in industrial sector(s) to ensure compliance with already notified/existing standards. The committee will also start consultation with the industrial associations and chambers of commerce and industries for identification of state-of-the-art waste water treatment and emission control techniques for implementation across the country.

The committee will also prepare recommendations for formulation and adoption of uniform and rational environmental quality standards, the notification adds. The first meeting of the committee constituted by Dr Pervez Hassan will be held on September 18, 2020, at Islamabad to initiate its work. It is expected that recommendations by this committee will help reduce the environmental pollution and improve the procedure of installment of treatment plants in the factories.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020