Industrialists will be forced to close units if Sepa's notices not withdrawn

Presidents of seven industrial associations on Wednesday urged the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to take immediate notice of what they called "widespread harassment of the industrialists" on the part of the Sindh Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) in the garb of protection of environment.
The presidents of the seven industrial zones, who spoke at an impromptu news conference held at the SITE Association of Industry (SAI), to highlight the issue vis-à-vis Sepa's notices, included the SITE, Korangi, Federal B' Area, North Karachi, SITE Super Highway, Landhi and Bin Qasim Associations.
They demanded of the government to immediately withdraw the `uncalled for' notices issued to a large number of industrialists, or else the industrialists will be compelled to close industries and such an action will lead to massive retrenchment, unemployment and unrest. They demanded the Sindh CM to constitute an Environment Protection Council (EPC) comprising representation of all the seven industrial associations. "All the seven industrial zones' associations are on one-page against the notices issued by Sepa," Korangi Association of Trade and Industry's (Kati) president, Masood Naqi, said.
"Jawed Bilwani is our joint spokesman and he is raising the issue with all the concerned quarters and as such the government must note that we know how to protect our fundamental rights."
He further stated that the industrialists are aware with the environment issues as they have to conform to the international standards for their exports. The government should honour its commitment with regard to establishment of combined effluent treatment plants (CETP). The representatives of the associations said that the provincial government has not only approved CETPs, but has allocated considerable funds for environmental protection and waste water management in the budget. Besides, land has already been identified for setting up five CETPs near industrial areas, while a PC-I amounting to over Rs 11billion has already been presented to the Sindh government, they added.
Recalling that a former Additional Attorney General of Sindh, K. K. Agha, had admitted before the Supreme Court that setting up of CETPs was the responsibility of the Sindh government, they said that on the one hand, the provincial government was not fulfilling its commitment vis-à-vis five CETPs and, on the other hand, the Sepa has issued warrants against 100 industrialists. The Sepa, they added, has asked industries to install separate effluent treatment plants to process their wastewater despite knowing that most of the industries in Sindh are small and medium-sized units which neither have the resources nor space for setting up treatment plants within the premises of their industries.
"Environmental protection is a social compliance and a requirement for the industry because international buyers mainly purchase goods from the units which comply with international practice and hence effluent treatment plants are a fundamental requirement for these units," he said, adding that more than Rs 25bn is already available with the Export Development Fund, while the Sindh government is ready to finance 50 per cent cost of the effluent treatment plants subject to provision of 50pc funds from the federal government.
They demanded of the prime minister to allocate funds for the CETPs from the EDF. Insisting that there is a legal requirement to establish Sindh Environmental Protection Council under the Sindh Environmental Protection Act, 2014, they said the Act also make representation of industrialists mandatory in the council. Such a council will be the competent authority to work out environment protection standards in Sindh and take decisions for the protection of environment in the province, they opined.
At they outset, they regretted that it seemed that the Sindh government despite generating huge revenue from the city's industries has accorded low priority to them.
They also deplored that though the Sindh Environment Protect Act was passed in 2014, neither its law nor its rules have been notified.