RAWALPINDI: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with Regional Transport Authority and Traffic Police Rawalpindi, impounded 51 vehicles, shut 27 stone crushers and five brick kilns in violation of standard operating procedure (SOPs) regarding smog control during October 2021.
According to the EPA spokesman, while taking action against polluting vehicles, brick kilns and stone crushers in various parts of the district, the EPA checked 58 stone crushers in the areas of Taxila, Wah Cantt and sealed 27 on violating SOPs.
The teams checked 72 brick kilns in Gujjar Khan, Girja and Dhok Hamida area and sealed five besides registering first information reports against four of them while a fine of Rs 700,000 was also imposed on nine kilns, he added.
Similarly, EPA teams inspected nine hospitals and issued notices to two for not following the SOPs regarding disposal of hospital’s waste.
The teams also checked 873 vehicles and challaned 141, emitting smoke beyond the prescribed limits of Punjab Environmental Quality Standards and imposed a fine amounting to Rs 54,500. “51 vehicles were impounded during the checking which was found spreading pollution mainly due to substandard fuel consumption and improper maintenance of vehicle engines and silencers’, he added.
He informed that during checking of industrial units, the teams sealed two units, including ZAK steel and Win steel mill, in the area of Rawat while inspecting 23 units.