Steps being taken to improve environment, says Faisal
By Khalid Amin

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Environment Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat Wednesday said that experts have studied Bretty cotton seed, its effect on environment and on various developmental process of cotton has proved detrimental for the environment.
When Bretty seed’s different varieties were imported toPakistan, these are going through the standardization process which has its own procedure, he said while talking to newsmen. He said that Ministry was of the opinion that Bretty Cotton’s impact was hazardous in the context of the environment. He added that surely the areas in which Bretty is sown will have increased allergy that is why the recommendations have been sent to the relevant institutions for assessment. He said that areas in which Bretty Cotton had been sown yielded good output than the conventional seed,adding that Bretty cotton has more resistance to pests while output was more.
He said that some pests attack the cotton and some pests have advantages for the cotton whose eradication was necessary for the agriculture and the relevant community. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1997 all Commercial institutions were bound to provide Treatment Plants for their workers and their waste so that the dangerous materials could not vitiate the environment, adding commercial institutions were paying little heed resulting in problems. He said that a policy has been devised for all theindustrial estates and instructions have been communicated to them to replace all the outdated plants and those places where pollution free plants are not available should be installed soon. He maintained that the government has allocated Rs 1.15 billion for the installation of various plants. Industries are being increased very rapidly resulting in the 6% industrial growth in last 5 years, adding if the country will increase industrial products at such a scale and the industrialists will not contemplate an adequate safeguard then environmental impact will come to the fore. He added that smoke emitting vehicles were another problem for the whole country as it releases huge carbon.