Environmental pollution has increased to dangerous level in Punjab: Chief Justice

LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday took exception to growing environmental degradation in Lahore  and asked the department concerned to submit a report after measuring the scale of pollution.

The chief justice asked the secretary of the environment protection department to select six different areas in and outside the city to measure pollution.

He warned that if figures about pollution were manipulated, strict action would be taken against those found involved.

The secretary will have to face consequences, if any ambiguity was found in the report, he clarified.

CJP Nisar gave these directions while hearing a suo motu case with regard to increasing environmental pollution at the apex court’s Lahore registry.

He asked the secretary whether or not he knew the scale of environmental pollution and observed that his was the most inefficient department.

Had you issued no-objection certificate (NOC) for construction of the Orange Line Metro Train project, the CJP asked, noting that the department readily gave its nod to development projects without assessing their effect on environment.

Environmental pollution has increased to a dangerous level, he observed and cautioned that the days were not far off when people will have to use masks owing to pollution.

This matter involved lives of people, which were being put at stake, the chief justice said.

Meanwhile, CJP Nisar took notice of hospitals’ failure to dispose of their waste in a proper manner and sought report from the provincial health secretary in this regard.