Muhammad Saleem

Akram Ali, like other residents of Maqbool Road here, is much perturbed by the toxic effluents being discharged into the area by the textile processing units operating in his locality, creating health and environmental issues. Talking to WealthPK, he said successive governments had assured them that such units would be shifted out of the residential areas, but nothing had been done so far. Industrial intrusion in the residential areas, including Odean Street, Samundri Road, Maqbool Road and other areas is a source of constant nuisance for the dwellers. However, owners of these factories are happy because operating there costs them much less than in industrial areas or away from the city. Talking to WealthPK, Sarfraz, owner of a unit, said shifting a factory out of a residential area was not possible at a time of high inflation. He said their machines were decades old and shifting would damage their parts. Similarly, he said going out of the city areas meant making special arrangements for transportation of labour and their food. “When industrial units had been set up on Maqbool and Samundri roads, no residential colonies existed then,” he said, adding that residential colonies sprang up as people were attracted to the livelihood sources the factories generated. 

Shehbaz Ahmed, a resident of Samundri Road, said the residents were troubled as a drain carrying effluent from the factories passed through the area, spreading foul smell. He said students of a state-run school had been facing issues as the drain passed just in front of their institute, producing nasty smell.  Ahmed said the residents were facing breathing issues due to environmental degradation caused by the operations of the factories in their locality. “Residents have long been pushing for shifting of the industrial units out of the residential areas, but to no avail,” he said. The Samundri Road resident said government officials, including parliamentarians and the ministers, had promised time and again that such units would be shifted out of the residential areas, but again to no effect. “The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) officials have failed to take action against the factory owners for discharging effluents openly,” an office-bearer of the Faisalabad Foundry and Engineering Industries Group, told WealthPK.

He said various processing units in the area had been discharging chemically polluted water, which was also damaging the groundwater. Akram Ali, the Maqbool Road resident, said officials of the environment protection department and Wasa had so far failed to prevent the damage done to the local environment by the operations of the factories in the residential areas. He said they could not use the groundwater in their localities due to the mixing of toxic effluents in it. A district government officer, who wished not to be named, said it was the government’s responsibility not to allow factories to operate in residential areas. He said such units could easily be shifted to small and big industrial areas in the district. He said without a clear policy, they could not move against the units operating in residential areas. “We have been clamouring for relocating industrial units from our areas, but those at the helm don’t listen,” Ahmed, the Samundri Road resident, regretted.

Credit: INP-WealthPk