Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed owners of all cement factories operating near the Katas Raj Temple in Chakwal to appear before the court on April 20, otherwise arrest warrants would be issued against them.

A three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umer Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, while hearing a suo motu case pertaining to drying of Katas Raj Temple pond also asked the owners of the cement factories to come up with a solution, otherwise the court will do what it deemed fit.

Katas Raj Temple’s historic water pond, a site considered sacred by the Hindu community, is said to have depleted due to operations in the vicinity of several cement factories that have sucked out the underground water.

The court also directed the cement factories to submit a five-year plan, mentioning that if there was a shortage of cement, the court will deal with the consequences.

The chief justice noted that cement factories located near the Katas Raj Temple have sucked all the water, however there was no law to regulate the matter since last three decades. He said the factories could not be permitted to play with the life of the people.

A lawyer representing a cement factory apprised the court that his client had hired the services of an expert to help resolve the issue. The chief justice noted that the court recently had already issued notices to the factories directing them to use the river water for their needs, but the factories did not pay heed to the court directions.

He noted that the court did not desire to see drought-like conditions and people suffering from lack of water.

“We will not allow human life to be sacrificed to run the factories,” the chief justice observed, adding that a factory can be shifted from one place to another, but people cannot leave their ancestral homes.

A lawyer representing the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) apprised the court that the pond of Katas Raj Temple was being filled with the water. He, however, stated that it had yet to be ascertained how the pond’s natural source of water could be restored.

A counsel for the Punjab government stated that underground water level in Chakwal’s Salt Range had been miserably affected because the factories sucked huge quantities of water using tube-wells.

To a court query regarding other sources of water including river water, the counsel for the factories requested the court to allow them some time to divert to water from other sources. Later, the court adjourned the hearing till April 20.

Published in Daily Times, April 6^th 2018.