Fida Hussnain
Punjab Environment Protection and Climate Change Department Secretary Raja Jahangir Anwar imposed a ban on production and sale of single use plastic across the province from Wednesday.
“We will do everything possible to protect our environment,” said the secretary while addressing an international conference and exhibition on World Environment Day.
Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also took part as the chief guest. Senior officials, environmental experts and representatives of different companies were also present there. The international environmental activists and researchers also took part virtually in the conference. The legal team of the department including Deputy Director Mian Ejaz and Assistant Director Hafiz Muhammad Usman also graced the occasion.
Raja Jahangir Anwar said, “The single use plastic is now a major threat to the world. We import plastic worth $2 billion annually and make plastic products. Plastic is not that bad. Rather, this is the single use plastic that is thrown away after the single time use. That plastic is a threat, because it converts into micro-plastic and then it goes into your body through the agriculture and the food that we consume,”.
The secretary said that the plastic is also damaging the ecosystem and threatening the aquaculture.
“Plastic is now a big health issue,” said the secretary, emphasizing to take the environment and the climate change seriously as it is the matter of the survival of the coming generations. Raja Jahangir Anwar said that Punjab witnessed a temperature of 52 Celsius this year—an unprecedented figure that did not happen before in the history of this land. “All this is happening because of climate change. And we are responsible for this. Our struggle against climate change also involves behavioral change and the change of the mindsets,” said the provincial secretary.
He also talked about the squads for the smog, new policies for climate change and many other new ventures, urging the citizens to play their due role to protect the environment.
