November 26, 2010

 

Pakistani poultry farms asked to move away from streams

Pakistan's Punjab Environmental Tribunal on Wednesday (Nov 24) gave six months to three poultry farms to shift their businesses away from Dhela Phagwari due to pollution of streams flowing into Rawal Lake.

 

The owners of three poultry farms-Imtiaz Ahmed, Mohammad Zahoor and Zaheer Ahmed-all have their poultry farms in the Dhela Phagwari union council.

 

The orders were issued during proceedings of the tribunal at the offices of Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA) in Islamabad and also cite poultry farms being located in residential areas among other reasons.

 

Besides, the tribunal issued two bailable arrest warrants for owners of a market and poultry farm located on Murree Expressway.

The tribunal, led by Khawaja Mohammad Afzal, took up 40 cases on Wednesday (Nov 24) in which polluters were accused of discharging sewage into clean water streams in and around Murree that flow into Rawal Lake and concentrated their business in residential areas.

 

The officials of Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (Punjab-EPA) informed the court that the poultry farms were located in 1,000 metres radius of residential locality and the owners did not adopt environment safety measures, creating pollution in the area.

 

The Punjab-EPA officials also informed the court that despite issuance of summons, the owners of Moen and Jan Market and Ali Ahmed Poultry Farm at Expressway did not appear before the court. Upon this, the tribunal issued bailable arrest warrants for them.

 

The tribunal also issued fresh notices to the owners of 13 commercial and residential units to stop polluting water streams flowing into Rawal Lake within one month. It asked that if they did not stop discharging their sewage into water streams, stern action would be taken against them.

 

It also directed Punjab-EPA to send its team to Old Murree Road to see whether the owners of a restaurant, a poultry farm, a market and five private houses have constructed soakage pits and waste collection rooms.

 

The team would submit its report before the court in next hearing on December 22.

 

The Punjab-EPA moved against poultry farms, commercial and residential units after the Supreme Court took a suo motu over contamination of Rawal Lake, which supplies water to Rawalpindi.