Islamabad (September 14, 2018): A three-member bench of Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has said that cement factories will have to pay for underground water they are using.
Hearing a case pertaining to cement factories in Islamabad on Friday, Chief Justice remarked that underground water is very precious and cement factories are using it but now it will not be available to them for free.
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Also taking notice of the use of underground water by mineral water companies, Chief Justice directed Punjab Food Authority to seek report from all the companies as to how much water they are using and how much they are paying for it.
The Apex Court directed Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Director General Farzana Altaf Shah and Human Rights Cell Director General Khalid Teepu Rana to submit a report regarding the industrial units in the city in the next five days.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar was hearing case pertaining to environmental pollution in the federal capital.
During the hearing, Justice Nisar inquired, if steps have been taken to curb industrial pollution.
To this, the DG EPA said, no steps have been taken to stop industrial pollution.
“We are not even allowed to conduct an inspection,” Shah said.
Commenting on Shah’s statement, the chief justice remarked, “Mill owners don’t know about the power of SC.”
He added that mill owners were playing with the lives of people, by the pollution caused by their mills and factories.
“We will take Rs5 million from them as security,” he remarked.
DG EPA further said, “Mill owners have made us from watchdogs to just dogs.”
To this, Justice Nisar said, “Those who have not submitted the security deposit, will have to pay 8 per cent markup on security, which will be put into the dam fund.”
The court then adjourned the hearing till September 24 and directed the authorities concerned, present at the hearing, to conduct an inspection and submit a report within the next five days.
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