An extraordinary general body meeting of Site Association of Industry (SAI) was held and it decided to approach Governor and Chief Minister Sindh to direct concerned authority to initiate construction of five Combined Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) without delay. A large number of the members of SAI attended the meeting to discuss the law to put up pre-treatment plant within the industry premises; they mentioned that the government of Sindh has allocated funds in 2017-18 budget for the plants.
They mentioned that majority of the industries in Karachi are of small and medium size which cannot establish individual in house pre-treatment plant due to inadequate space and resources. They also mentioned that in the absence of CETP, the export oriented industries of Karachi have been denied of export orders which incur loss to the industry and of foreign exchange to the nation.
They also decided that every industrialist will test the effluent discharge of its unit and provide the report to SAI. A desk will be established at SAI to help and facilitate industries to get effluent tested. They also decided to write a letter to Justice Amir Hani Muslim, Chief of the Supreme Courts Water Commission, and apprise him of the concerns of seven industrial estates of the city about the existing position of wastewater generation and its treatment before discharge to Arabian Sea.
They also expressed concerns over notices issued to the industrialists and raids carried out by different govt bodies on industrial units. President SAI, Muhammad Jawed Bilwani, said that the idea of individual pre-treatment plant shall be a futile exercise because one industry shall install the in-house effluent treatment plant and other industries in the area would not have the said plant, the pre treatment will become purposeless as all discharge will mix up at exit point.
He said that the industrialists want to address the issue in most befitting manner and intend to treat the effluent discharge by the industry in total. Former President of KCCI, Siraj Kasim Teli said that the industrialization process started in Pakistan soon after independence of the country which continues to date.
The government on a later stage promulgated the law after becoming signatory to the WTO and other international conventions. Meaning thereby, government had not passed any law during the first decades of the existence of the country, while it is a prime responsibility of the government, nevertheless, the concerned department should bail out industries for the sins they never committed.
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