ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change expressed “grave displeasure” on Wednesday over the “lack of knowledge and naivety” of Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak EPA), Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) and Capital Development Authority (CDA) and summoned the heads of these three bodies — Director General, Pak EPA, Farzana Altaf Shah, Mayor, Islamabad, Sheikh Anser Aziz, and Chairman, CDA, Amer Ali Ahmed — in its next meeting.
During the committee meeting presided over by its Chairperson, Sitara Ayaz, the committee members slammed the role of Pak EPA in what they termed was the agency’s “complete failure” in improving the environmental standards in the federal capital. “The EPA officials have been making tall claims—‘we did this and we did that’ but we are yet to see anything concrete on the ground done by the EPA for the betterment of Islamabad as far as environment is concerned,” said committee member Mushahid Hussain Sayed.
Discussing the deterioration of Air Quality Index in Islamabad, he said air quality of Islamabad, despite its greenery, is “worse than New Delhi and Beijing.” The committee members said the Pak EPA, despite its claims of regular environmental monitoring, was unable to satisfy the committee regarding the reasons for deteriorating of Air Quality Index in Islamabad. The committee asked Pak EPA to submit all details regarding the matter in the next meeting.
Taking up the matter of the old landfill site in sector I-12, the committee once again showed “grave concern” regarding conditions of hygiene and the role of Pak EPA in this regard. “We are simply shocked to witness the sorry state of affairs at EPA and the manner in which it is dealing with environmental issues in Islamabad. Remember, this is Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, where all this is happening. We are simply speechless,” said Sitara Ayaz, the committee’s Chairperson.
However, the Pak EPA officials passed the buck on the forest department, saying, the new landfill site comes under the jurisdiction of the forest department and an NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Ministry of Climate Change is required to regularize the new landfill site, which has not been done yet. Until and unless the new landfill site is regularized the dumping at the new site cannot start, Pak EPA officials briefed the committee.
While deliberating over garbage collection and cleanliness of Faisal Mosque, the committee was informed that janitorial services are being outsourced to M/S Dani Enterprises with a contract that costs a whopping Rs 13.80 million. The said company has deputed 74 employees, the committee was informed. The committee members were “dismayed at the plummeting level of cleanliness at Faisal Mosque” and questioned CDA of the “feasibility of such a deployment where no visible results have been yielded.” The committee recommended that the said contract be cancelled immediately.
The committee showed “grave displeasure at the lack of knowledge and naivety of the Pak EPA, MCI and CDA officers regarding issues that were discussed in the meeting. The blame game must end and accepting responsibility is the only way forward.”
The committee then summoned DG, Pak EPA, mayor, Islamabad and chairman, CDA, in the next meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020