Staff Reporter
Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), during 2019, issued notices to over 700 different industrial, commercial and healthcare units for violating relevant environmental standards in province.
SEPA spokesman sharing details of the efforts made by the agency said the management of 320 of these units were provided with personal hearing opportunity and were asked to plug the loopholes leading to lapse in terms of environmental degradation.
Two forty (240) other units, mainly comprising brick kilns and recycling of batteries were made to close down while cases of 50 of these were referred to courts.
During the year long exercise, environment related performance of more than 150 different healthcare facilities, scattered across the province, were also monitored and consequent to hearing they were made to comply with set standards for safe disposal of varied categories of waste generated by each of them.
In collaboration with provincial traffic police department hundreds of smoke emitting vehicles were imposed with fine and made to set right their tuning.
It was also in 2019 that SEPA launched a full-fledged and well planned campaign against production and sale – purchase of plastic bags with due provision for promotion of biodegradable and environment friendly options.