The National Authority for Disaster Management (NDMA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were criticized during the Permanent Committee of the National Assembly on Climate Change and the Environmental Coordination Session on Wednesday when the province dealt with record floods.
MNA Malik Awais Jakhar criticized the NDMA for incompetence and demanded answers on behalf of his district – Layah.
“The committees have formed for a year and a half [but] Has any results occur? “He asked. Jakhar further criticized the NDMA for not appearing before the Permanent Committee despite multiple citations.
This year, torrential rains have flooded rivers, with high flood alerts issued by the NDMA.
“The city of Layyah is being protected by a embankment. If it breaks, my city drown,” Jakhar said, denouncing the lack of funds. He regretted that all funds were redirected to larger cities, while the smallest cities in southern Punjab were drowning.
The NDMA has not even included Layyan in his worst affected list, Jakhar told the Permanent Committee asking members to tell who to resort to ask for help. “People [in Layyah] They are affected by floods, they are bringing bodies in boats. “
On deforestation, pollution
The Permanent Committee also occupied the problem of smoke -emitting vehicles and deforestation.
“Crushing machines and marble quarries in Haripur are causing mass destruction,” said Shaist Khan committee member.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Climate Change informed the committee that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has mandatory that each house in Islamabad now includes a rainwater collection system during construction.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Islamabad Transportation Authority, Kamran Chema, said efforts to stop smoke emitting vehicles in an attempt to combat Smog in the region.
However, the Committee refused to accept this, with the members who stress the rules of the EPA formed in 2008 and subsequent failures to enforce them.
The meeting concluded that the EPA lacked appropriate equipment to regulate vehicle emissions.
Then, Chema assured member legislators that more equipment has been acquired and that the EPA has begun to implement its rules.
The Committee noted that of the 1.7 million vehicles registered in Islamabad, issuance tests have been carried out in just 876.
The president of climate change and environmental coordination, the president of the Permanent Committee, Munaza Hassan, said: “Next year, the country expects to receive 22% more rain.”
She lashed out at Islamabad residents stating that “houses of 808 million rupees can be allowed, but can’t they buy three trucks?”
In addition, he criticized the excessive use of plastic and observed that it even helps to be delivered to the victims of flooding consists of thousands of plastic bottles.
Hassan ordered the members of the Committee and other officials at the meeting so that it is mandatory for private companies to install machines to collect plastic bottles. “I feel that the whole country will end underwater,” he lamented.
