people living in far-flung areas.

The Punjab government has also started installing wastewater treatment plants under the administrative control of the Public Health Engineering Local Government and Community Development. This activity will ensure availability of proper sewerage system and elimination of water contamination through mixing with sewage.

New environmental laboratories have been established at Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Rahimyar Khan, the Punjab report said.

It also stated that Field Testing Kits for measurement of ambient air quality parametres of vehicular exhaust gases and noise have been procured, and that 164 air pollution control devices have been installed by different industrialunits.

The environment department is promoting environmental friendly power generation plants by installing solar and bio gas systems.

To minimise pollution in urban centres, the department has issued environmental approval to environment-friendly projects including the Metro Bus, underpasses and road widening projects.

Additional Advocate General Sindh Shafi Chandio told the bench that the provincial government was considering launching mass urban transport system that includes metro buses for Karachi. Heavy penalties have been imposed on vehicles not suitable for roads, he said.

Unimpressed, the judges asked what was the use of projects not beneficial for the citizens? They also pointed out to the law officer the heaps of garbage seen on the roads of Karachi. ISLAMABAD: Federal and provincial officials tried to impress the Supreme Court with their efforts to stop environmental degradation in the country on Thursday but the justices were not amused.

`Islamabad is no more the clean city it used to be a decade ago,` Justice Ejaz Afzal reminded the representative of the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency Muhammad Arshad Cheema as he narrated to a two-judge bench the steps taken `to control pollution`.

Different judges on the bench,setupin2003 tolook into the all-round environmental degradation, have heard the officials on the issue previously in 2009 and 2013.

`Islamabad is faced with problems like pollution, smoke emitting vehicles, dust and broken sewerage system and overflowing gutters, observed Justice Afzal when Mr Cheema told his bench that stone crushing activities in Margalla Hills had been closed down by the EPA.

Similarly, the officer said, oil refineries have been asked to control harmful emissions by installing modern devices to keep air clean.

Unfit and smoke emitting vehicles are also being discouraged to ply on the roads.

But the bench, not satisfied with these efforts, invited the officer`s attention toward excessive denuding of the forests, especially in areas adjoining Khanpur and Mari, resulting in occasional land sliding.

The justices noted that overflowing sewage was one of the biggest sources of pollution but was being ignored by the authorities, especially in the capital. They ordered the federal and provincial governments to submit comprehensive reports that effective steps were being taken to control the ever increasing pollution.

Simultaneously, the governments should commence awareness campaigns to educate citizens on how to keep sight seeing places and mountains clean and safe.

Additional Advocate General Punjab Razzaq A.

Mirza said the Punjab government had installed water treatment plants in different cities. But the court observed that clean drinking water was still not available to