Daily Times

National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH), on Friday, welcomed the recent ruling of Supreme Court to stop offloading of imported coal at Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and ban open storage of commodity anywhere in city within six weeks.

NFEH President Naeem Qureshi said that such favorable decision by apex judiciary would go a long way in safeguarding environment of the city that has been facing serious threats owing to various unchecked and alarming phenomena.

He said that apex court had to step in to safeguard the health and lives of citizens when other relevant authorities had been doing nothing except acting as silent spectators while the deterioration in environment of the city continued unabated.

According to NFEH president, offloading of cargo vessels carrying imported coal at KPT and subsequent open storage of coal at a yard situated near the residential areas in Clifton, had emerged as a major threat to environment of the city.

Naeem Qureshi said that relevant authorities including Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) had not taken any concrete action to stop the practice that had emerged as one of the biggest threats to environment and health of concerned citizens of Karachi.

In such a situation, concerned quarters were left with no option other than to move the court to get due relief and that had been rightly and timely granted in order to protect the city’s environment, he added.

He also said that a clear-cut policy framework and binding guidelines should be adopted by authority of Port Qasim for offloading, handling, and storage of imported coal there in view of the ruling of apex judiciary.

Naeem Qureshi added that such a policy should be finalized only after consulting concerned industrialists who owned businesses and industries in Port Qasim Industrial zone area.

Published in Daily Times, June 30^th 2018.