SWABI: The district administration closed down the stone crushing plants across the district on Monday and asked the owners to get no-objection certificate (NoC) from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), sources said. The owners must get the NoC from EPA, or else they would not be allowed to continue work in the district, said the sources.
It was not immediately known what were the reasons that made the government to take prompt action against the crushing plants. Sources said that the action was taken on the directive of the provincial government and all crushing plants have stopped, except those who had succeeded to get NoC from the EPA earlier. It has been learnt that a number of plant owners of the district had visited the agency but returned frustrated and perplexed.
Gul Zamin Shah, who owned three crushing plants operating in the Saleem Khan Mountains, said that he had applied for NoC last year and officials of the agency had visited his plants but he was not issued the NoC.
Reports indicate that they tried to breach one of gates, harassed staff, and even scaled walls of premises
Nasir praised role of Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi, who controlled situation with tolerance
A fierce exchange of fire ensued, but culprits managed to escape under cover of darkness
Police said booked leaders and BYC workers gathered at main Turbat Chowk
Mobile internet outages became common fixtures during protests by PTI since Imran was ousted in 2022
Bokhari emphasised that cases have been registered against "Fasadis", and no one will be spared
