PESHAWAR: The residents of Palai area in Malakand region, known for its orchards, have moved the Peshawar High Court against the no objection certificate (NOC) issued by the provincial government for the construction of a cement factory in their area and acquisition of around 400 acres of land for the purpose.

The petitioners, including Ali Mohammad and 15 others, prayed the court to strike down the government’s NOC for the Fecto Cement Private Limited to establish a factory in Palai.

They also sought the court’s order to declare illegal the invoking of Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act by the government for acquiring land for the factory saying the move is a threat to the local environment and the people’s health.

The petitioners requested the court to declare the cement factory’s establishment a violation of the provincial, federal and international environmental protection laws and standards.

They sought the immediate suspension of the impugned notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, and restriction on the Fecto Cement from carrying on activities in the area until the final disposal of the petition.

Local residents insist NOC threatens people’s health, environment

Respondents in the petition are the provincial government through its chief secretary, Federation of Pakistan through the climate change secretary, provincial secretaries of agriculture, environment, mines and minerals, industries, forest and wildlife, the provincial Environmental Protection Agency’s director general, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency director general, Malakand district nazim and deputy commissioner, director (agriculture), and Fecto Cement Limited through its chief executive.

The petitioners had earlier submitted a complaint with the PHC’s Human Rights Cell on the same issue. A bench of the high court had on Apr 5 directed Advocate Ali Gohar Durrani, appearing for the complainants to file a proper writ petition.

The petitioners said the Palai area was known globally for serene lush green fields in general and citrus orchards in particular.

They said the area was short of water yet they and many like them did all their best to make the area environment friendly mostly without the help of the government.

The petitioners claimed that the official estimates suggested that there were around 171,000 fruit plants in the area.

They said in the garb of development and investment, the government had issued 14 NOCs to different cement manufacturers across the province to set up their units.

The petitioners said the Fecto Cement Limited requested the mines and minerals development secretary for setting up a factory in Palai through a letter sent on Aug 4, 2017.

They said the mines secretary processed the request the same day and directed the deputy commissioner of Malakand to ensure land acquisition for the purpose.

The petitioners claimed the tehsildar of Batkhela tehsil later issued a notice of affixation, which was circulated as an official document despite being undated and signed by the Fecto Cement Limited general manager and not by any government official.

They said surprisingly, it later emerged that the Environment Impact Assessment study was in progress showing that 400 acres of land was being acquired without even looking into the details of the impact of the manufacturing plant of cement on ecology, environment, bio-diversity and wildlife of the area besides human lives.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2018