KARACHI, Feb 6: The Senate standing committee on the environment decided not to conduct its meeting in the city on Friday in protest against what the members described as the “non-seriousness of the federal environment ministry and its failure to ensure the protocol they deserved”.

Among other items on its agenda, the Senate body was scheduled to discuss the issue of the oil pipeline burst that caused panic in Korangi Town on December 17, 2008. The committee was to review the actions taken by the environment ministry in regard to the spill, which caused a great deal of pollution in Union Council No 4 of Korangi town.

Ten members of the standing committee, headed by Senator Dr Mohammad Ali Brohi, managed to gather at the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) headquarters in Korangi at around 10.45am, where the secretary of the provincial environment and alternative energy department also maintains his secretariat.

According to the norms and a notice issued by the Senate secretariat, Islamabad, the federal minister for the environment, Senator Hameedullah Jan Afridi, was to receive the committee members and also apprise them about the status of implementation on the recommendations of the Senate standing committee meeting held from November 15 to 17, 2008, in Karachi.

However, the minister could not make it on Friday, and, according to a committee member, a low-ranking official was deputed for the purpose.

Furthermore, the ministry was also unable to ensure the attendance of one of the representatives of the two parties involved in the Korangi oil spill.

The committee chairman, Dr Ali Brohi, and members Hafiz Abdul Malik Qadri, Bibi Yasmeen Shah, Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada, Sardar Mehmud Khan, Maulana Rahat Hussain, Mir Mohabbat Khan Marri, Nisar Ahmed Memon, Syed Muhammad Hussain and Muhammad Saleh Shah had turned up for the meeting, which has now been deferred for a week of so, and will now be held in Islamabad.

Senator’s rickshaw ride

According to a relevant notification, arrangements for the stay of members and officers of the Senate secretariat were to be made at Qasr-i-Naz, Karachi, while the provision of transport to take the members from Karachi airport to Qasr-i-Naz and from Qasr-i-Naz to the venue of the meeting and back were also to be made by the federal ministry.

A member said that the committee was very disappointed as far as transport arrangements and protocol affairs were concerned. One of the members reached the Korangi office of the Sindh environment department by hiring a rickshaw, it was further learnt.

A source in Sepa said that the members also expressed concern over the ‘cold shoulder’ they received from the provincial environment department, which failed to welcome the committee members properly.

A couple of members told the media that the treatment meted out to them was highly insulting and now the prime minister and the Sindh chief minister should look into the matter and ensure the supremacy of the parliamentary body.

Senator Dr Abdul Khaliq Prizada told Dawn that he was surprised that none of the federal or provincial environment officials were present to receive the members outside the meeting venue. We discovered them in their rooms relaxing, he added.

The government had declared 2009 as the year of the environment, but the actions of its ministers and other subordinates had been very depressing, and could not be considered as conducive for any betterment, Dr Pirzada commented. The environment minister and his office had certainly failed to give priority to environmental issues, he added.

According to a member of the committee, the minister in question remained untraceable even before the meeting while several attempts were made to contact him.

When contacted, the Director-General of Sepa, Shakeel Hashmi, said that Sepa had nothing to do with the meeting, the relevant arrangements or protocol affairs.