PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has stayed the process for the construction of a cement factory in Palai area of Malakand, known for orchards, especially orange ones.

The government has already issued the No Objection Certificate for the construction of the Fecto Cement factory in the area, while the acquisition of around 400 acres of land for the purpose is in progress.

A high court bench consisting of Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Syed Afsar Shah issued notices to the respondents, including the provincial chief secretary, federal climate change secretary and others, in a petition filed by Ali Muhammad and 15 other Palai residents against the NOC and land acquisition for the factory.

Seeks response of authorities to petition against NOC, land acquisition for Fecto Cement plant

It fixed May 24 for the next hearing into the case observing that everything on the matter will remain suspended until then.

The petitioners requested the court to declare illegal the invoking of the Land Acquisition Act’s Section 4 by the government for acquiring land for the proposed factory saying it is a threat to the environment and health of the local residents.

They also pleaded the court to declare the factory’s construction a violation of the provincial, federal and international environmental protection laws and standards.

The petitioners had earlier submitted a complaint on the matter with the PHC’s Human Rights Cell. On Apr 5, a bench had directed Ali Gohar Durrani, lawyer for the complainants, to file a proper petition.

Lawyer Ali Gohar said Palai was known for its serene lush green fields in general and citrus orchards in particular.

He said the area was water-scarce yet the petitioners and many like them did their best to make the area environment friendly mostly without the government’s help.

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

He claimed that the government had issued 14 NOCs to different cement manufacturers across the province in the garb of development and investment.

Mr Ali Gohar said the Fecto Cement had formally requested the mines and mineral development secretary on Aug 4, 2017 for setting up a cement factory in Palai.

He said the mines secretary processed the request the same day by directing the deputy commissioner of Malakand to speedily handle the matters on the acquisition of land for the cement factory.

The lawyer said the tehsildar of Batkhela tehsil was quick to issue a notice of affixation under Section 4 of the LAA in Palai.

He said the notice in question was undated and signed by the Fecto Cement general manager and not by any government official, but still it was issued as an official document by the tehsildar’s office.

Mr Ali Gohar said the Environment Impact Assessment of the cement factory plan was still in progress but 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, biodiversity and wildlife of the area and its impact on the people’s life.

He said the Supreme Court recently took a strong exception to the pollution caused by the Fecto Cement plant functioning in Sangjani area of Islamabad.

The lawyer pointed out several adverse impacts of cement plants on environment, saying the particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and CO2 are the primary emissions in the manufacturing of cement.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2018