Commission ordered to protect population from stone crushers

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered formation of a commission to protect population from environmental pollution being caused by power stone crushers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial observed that the KP had weak resources for environmental protection, adding that if any power crusher company lacks resources for environmental protection, the KP government should immediately close it for the safety and protection of human lives.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial was hearing a petition, challenging the vires of its Power Crushers (Installation, Operation and Regulation) Act, 2020 (KPK Act No 1 of 2020).

The court directed the KP government and authorities concerned to inform it after forming the commission so that it could give proposals to protect population from the pollution being emitted by the power crushers companies. Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial observed that the power crushers companies must stop blasting, adding that appropriate order will be passed in this regard.

The counsel for the petitioners told the court that the KP government while amending the rules had granted permission to the power crusher companies to install plants some 500 meters away from the populated areas instead of 1,000 meters

Justice Ijazul Ahsen said according to reports cancer and asthma were spreading in the residential areas close to these plants and asked the counsel for the petitioners if precautionary measures were not taken before setting them up.

The counsel told the court that several people had died after being hit by the stones during the blasting process. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsen, counsel for the power crusher companies, however, said that the units were not at fault if local population came close to them.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, however, observed that the plants were affecting human lives, which was the basic issue in the matter at hand. Justice Ijazul Ahsen recalled that in the case of Islamabad power crushers, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had installed filters at the crushers for e monitoring. If the KP government could not install filters in the plants”, Justice Ahsen asked.

Meanwhile, an environmentalist told the court that the plants could themselves establish monitoring units. The CJP questioned if these plants were established at a distance of 1,000 meters from the residential areas, what was the possibility there would be no further residential constructions.

“Bani Gala and Bara Kahu being the protected areas could not be saved saved from constructions,” the CJP remarked, adding that cases of only three power crusher companies were before the court while there were some 950 units in the KP.

He said that blasting was injurious to health than stone crushing. Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing for two months.