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KASUR, Oct 24: Notices have been served on a cluster of newly-built tanneries on Lahore-Ferozepur road after the approval of the Punjab environment secretary.
This was stated by Kasur district environment officer Misbahul Haq here on Friday.
He said strict action would be taken against the tannery owners who have constructed factories without getting due permission.
He said five factories have already started working while construction work on another has been halted.
Only two of them have set up treatment plants, while the other factories have been throwing their waste into the Pandokey drain, about 10 kilometres from the city, he added.
It may be noted that these factories are being built between Naqeebabad, Bhaloo and Wadana villages.
BACKGROUND: There are some 230 tanneries in and around Kasur which process 180 tons of wet salted hides and 15 tons of skins per day.
Differences arose among tanners benefiting from the Kasur Tannery Pollution Control Project over the amount they have to pay for using the facility. Under an agreement, for the first five years, the Tanners Association will have to share 50 per cent cost of the project’s operation and maintenance. At present, the Punjab government and Kasur district and tehsil administrations are sharing the maintenance costs by 20, 15 and 15 per cent, respectively.
The treatment plant project became functional in 2001 at a cost of Rs424.476 million. The plant’s working is not satisfactory as many machines have gone out of order. Four people, including a tannery owner, died on July 26 while removing waste from a poisonous chemical well at Niaz Nagar as a sucking machine has been out of order since long.
DOCTORS’ SHORTAGE: Various health institutions, including hospitals, in the district are working without doctors. Of 81 basic health units in the district, 46 have no doctors, two THQ hospitals at Chunian and Pattoki and 10 of 12 rural health centres are working without woman medical officers (WMO). Only four WMOs are working in the entire district — one in the Mustafabad RHC, one in Phool Nagar RHC and two in the DHQ Hospital.
There are 20 sanctioned posts of WMOs in the district.
