Metro, factories contaminating underground water

“Metro has not even bothered to fulfil the mandatory requirement of getting environmental approval. The store has been established illegally in violation of section 12 of Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997. The CDG issued a notice to Metro about a couple of month back with the direction to stop injection of wastewater into aquifer and fulfil the mandatory requirement of obtaining environmental approval. Metro management used its influence in the bureaucracy and managed to stop any legal action”, revealed an official at the EPA on condition of anonymity. He revealed that the citizens of surrounding villages were suffering from different diseases through intake of contaminated water.

“The subsoil water travels fast due to working of 450 tubewells in the City. The diseases caused in the surrounding localities could shift to other areas due to active aquifer”, he said, adding, that despite the fact that there was no method of treating subsoil water, the high ups were not giving attention to stop this deadly activity.