ISLAMABAD, March 4: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday sought comments from the federal and provincial governments on a report that environmental degradation is costing Pakistan $1.8 billion annually in reduced labour productivity and rising expenditure on healthcare.

Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Mohammad Qasim Jan Khan and Justice Mohammad Farrukh Mahmud of the bench needed the comments to decide an appeal filed against the Lahore High Court order to remove polluting industrial units from residential areas.

The Supreme Court bench has asked officials of the Ministry of Environment and concerned departments in the provinces, FATA, Northern Areas and Islamabad to comment on the harm the report says environmental degradation is causing.

Petitioner Mohammad Shafiq has a unit, producing industrial oil from animal and poultry waste, in a cluster of recycling plants in Hudiyara Drainage area on Lahore’s Barki Defence Road, which has been affected by the high court’s order.

Residents of the area had complained that the stench and emissions produced in the process of burning of solid waste by the recycling plants was affecting their health.

The appeal was moved against the high court order of relocating the unit. A similar complaint is also pending before the Lahore Environmental Protection tribunal on the complaint of a non governmental organization called Pathfinder.

On Tuesday the apex court also ordered the Managing Director of the Sui Gas Lahore to provide gas connection to such factories within a fortnight to check air pollution.

The report on environmental degradation was submitted by senior lawyer and Senator Babar Awan who was appointed amicus curaie (friend of the court) by the court earlier to assist it by suggesting practical proposals for implementing environmental laws in the country.

He also suggested the apex court to order setting up of Ecological Survey of Pakistan in the same pattern like Geological Survey of Pakistan in addition to ecological protection departments at district level in addition to launching of awareness campaign.

Citing 1997 World Bank study the report stated that the population growth and poor water infrastructure had reduced per capital water availability from 53,000 cubic meters to 1,200 cubic meters while the heavy reliance on firewood has contributed to world’s second highest rate of deforestation.

Likewise poor agricultural practices have led to soil erosion, ground water degradation that has hindered crop output in the rural areas whereas solid waste burning, low quality fuels and the growing use of fuel-inefficient motor vehicles have contributed to air pollution in cities like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, and Faisalabad.

According to WHO, the groundwater in Lahore has been contaminated upto 700 feet deep and therefore rendered dangerous for human consumption.

Extreme pollution of river Ravi has extinguished 42 species of fish while the bird life around the river has been migrated to other areas.

In 1983, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance (PEPO) was passed under which the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council (PEPC) and the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency were established to introduce the concept of environmental impact assessments.

However it is unfortunate that PEPO has remained largely unimplemented. The PEPC met in 1993 for the first time and approved the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) which later formulated the limits on major pollutants in the municipal and industrial liquid effluents, industrial gaseous emissions, motor vehicle exhaust and noise.

The draft environmental protection act was lapsed in 1996 after failing to be approved in the National Assembly but was redrafted and unanimously adopted by the parliament recently.