EPA’s ignorance deprives it of electricity connection

LESCO disconnected EPA Lahore office’s electricity connection for non-payment of bill

Picture by Asif Jutt

Apart from many other irregularities and lack of seriousness, another negligence of the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been exposed as it failed to pay its electricity bills on time.

The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) disconnected EPA District Office Lahore’s electricity connection on December 30, 2021 over the non-payment of an amount of Rs65,000 in terms of dues of two months.

Owing to the situation, the district office had been facing immense problems in performing its routine and pending matters.

Sources informed that along with Punjab EPA headquarters in Lahore; all field offices were also facing different problems due to non-availability of funds.

“EPA could not even manage to pay a very small amount of electricity bills,” he said, adding that earlier, EPA’s District Office Lahore had to face problems when its telephone’s connection was disconnected due to non-payment.

EPA’s district offices are responsible to control pollution through field inspections and by monitoring the air and water emissions of industrial units working in their respective districts. Moreover, they are also responsible to prepare site inspection reports (SIRs) if anyone wants to establish a new business.

Since the beginning of winter, EPA’s Lahore district office remained in the limelight during the developing scenario of smog and air pollution in the city. According to activities and progress in wake of smog, shared by government officials on a daily basis, EPA’s District Office Lahore remained the major stakeholder in action against the polluters.

Regarding the operation against polluters, every official statement clearly mentioned that actions were taken by teams composed of EPA officials.

Sources said that besides the performance of its routine matters, the EPA office also had to comply with directions of other departments including Punjab Disaster Management Authority, Commissioner Office and Judicial Environment and Water Commission.

“Now, all kinds of affairs have been put on a halt after the disconnection of electricity connection,” he said and added that the district office still had to prepare its monthly report which would be possible after restoration of the electricity connection.

This scribe tried to contact EPA District Officer Ali Ijaz, but he was not available for any comment.

Talking to Minute Mirror, EPA Spokesperson Amir Farooq said that he was unaware of any information regarding the disconnection of electricity connection in the district office. However, he said that this was a matter of the administration, which never stopped any essential fund of field offices.

It is pertinent to mention here that EPA’s Lahore office had been established in a private building on monthly rent. Earlier, this office remained operative in the Town Hall building, but it was shifted to a rental building in 2018.

Samiullah Randhawa is a correspondent covering environment, climate change, food, water and ecology. He is an International Center For Journalists alumnus and a fellow at Kettering Foundation Ohio, USA. He has won two Agahi Awards for reporting on climate change and water crisis. He tweets @sami_randhawa and can be reached at [email protected].