Source : http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=223072
By By Shahid Husain
Karachi
As if the tragedy at the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) was not enough where dumping of toxic waste by a factory owner played havoc with the lives of innocent children a few years ago, at least five children have been burnt in Mansehra Colony, F-Area, Landhi where industrial units dump their waste every day without any fear.
Amongst the children who have been burnt severely are: Omer, son of Sabir; Mazhar, son of Ashiq; Abid Ali, son of Khalid; Niaz Mohammad, son of Faqir Mohammad; and Zulfiqar, son of Faiz Mohammad; according to Noor-ur-Rehman, general secretary, Society for Safe and Healthier Environment, a small, grass root non-governmental organisation (NGO) that came into being after local activists of SITE area campaigned against dumping of toxic waste in SITE area.
“These children were burnt on January 18 while playing at the dump,” Mohammad Javed, a resident of Mansehra Colony who works in a denim factory in Landhi told The News.
“The mill area is situated near the dumping site where factories and Landhi Town employees dump their waste,” he said. “We tried to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) in Sharifi Goth police station but the officials refused to register it. We have been witnessing such incidents for the last one and a half year,” Javed said.
Amazingly, factory waste is dumped at the site by vehicles that have no number plates, he said.
A divisional bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Nadeem Azher Siddiqi on July 26, 2006, ordered that industrial waste should not be dumped on plot numbers F-620 and F-621 in SITE — Pakistan’s largest industrial estate.
The dumping of toxic chemical waste on these industrial plots had led to a tragedy of great magnitude in February 2006, when as many as 20 people — mostly children — received burns due to deadly chemicals.
Though industrialists tried to hush the case, inhabitants formed an “action committee” and filed a petition in the Sindh High Court.
Though a child died of severe burns while the other suffered from auto amputation, the struggle of the “action committee” that later transformed into the Society for Safe and Healthier Environment won the case and the unscrupulous factory owner was forced to compensate the victims.
Apparently the court verdict should have stopped dumping of hazardous waste in open plots in residential colonies but the tragedy in Mansehra Colony in Landhi’s F-Area amply demonstrates that the practice continues without any let or hindrance.
Karachi
As if the tragedy at the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) was not enough where dumping of toxic waste by a factory owner played havoc with the lives of innocent children a few years ago, at least five children have been burnt in Mansehra Colony, F-Area, Landhi where industrial units dump their waste every day without any fear.
Amongst the children who have been burnt severely are: Omer, son of Sabir; Mazhar, son of Ashiq; Abid Ali, son of Khalid; Niaz Mohammad, son of Faqir Mohammad; and Zulfiqar, son of Faiz Mohammad; according to Noor-ur-Rehman, general secretary, Society for Safe and Healthier Environment, a small, grass root non-governmental organisation (NGO) that came into being after local activists of SITE area campaigned against dumping of toxic waste in SITE area.
“These children were burnt on January 18 while playing at the dump,” Mohammad Javed, a resident of Mansehra Colony who works in a denim factory in Landhi told The News.
“The mill area is situated near the dumping site where factories and Landhi Town employees dump their waste,” he said. “We tried to lodge a First Information Report (FIR) in Sharifi Goth police station but the officials refused to register it. We have been witnessing such incidents for the last one and a half year,” Javed said.
Amazingly, factory waste is dumped at the site by vehicles that have no number plates, he said.
A divisional bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Nadeem Azher Siddiqi on July 26, 2006, ordered that industrial waste should not be dumped on plot numbers F-620 and F-621 in SITE — Pakistan’s largest industrial estate.
The dumping of toxic chemical waste on these industrial plots had led to a tragedy of great magnitude in February 2006, when as many as 20 people — mostly children — received burns due to deadly chemicals.
Though industrialists tried to hush the case, inhabitants formed an “action committee” and filed a petition in the Sindh High Court.
Though a child died of severe burns while the other suffered from auto amputation, the struggle of the “action committee” that later transformed into the Society for Safe and Healthier Environment won the case and the unscrupulous factory owner was forced to compensate the victims.
Apparently the court verdict should have stopped dumping of hazardous waste in open plots in residential colonies but the tragedy in Mansehra Colony in Landhi’s F-Area amply demonstrates that the practice continues without any let or hindrance.
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