Abdul Ghani

ISLAMABAD, July 20: Environmental and development experts have urged the government to remove encroachments along the water channels and streams to prevent urban flooding and water pollution.

They told WealthPK that failure in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal-11 (SDG-11), set by the United Nations, led to losses of lives and properties due to floods in every monsoon season in the country.

They stressed the need for close coordination among different stakeholders and devising a implementation framework to stop the construction of illegal structures on the banks of water channels, streams and drains. Encroachments along water channels are a major cause of floods.

Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, the executive director of Sustainable Development Policy Institute, told a seminar that urban flooding hit mostly the housing set up illegally in water bodies. He said that the Indus River swelled during the monsoon season and caused floods in Muzaffargarh and Kacha areas.

He said that the important topic of achieving SDG-11 became more relevant in every monsoon season in the country. He said that floods washed away the lifetime savings of the residents of the affected areas. He added that the seminar was meant to find out ways and means to resolve urban flooding.

Minister of State and Convener of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Secretariat Romina Khurshid Alam told WealthPK that it was need of the hour to achieve SD-11 that called for making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

She said half of the country’s population live in urban areas with a continuous migration from rural areas. “We are having the problems of air pollution, transportation, healthcare issues and unreliable municipal facilities. The illegal housing societies are a scar on the face of the fertile lands of the capital. They are damaging the ecosystems with spiking migration of rural people without proper know-how of resources and facilities available in the cities,” she added.

The state minister said that they would seriously take up the suggestions presented in the seminar, as a civil society coalition was necessary for good progress in the implementation of laws.

Commenting on the issue, Environmental Protection Agency Director General Farzana Altaf Shah told WealthPK that the encroachments and human settlements in the procured or peri-urban areas were polluting land and freshwater channels.

Illegal construction in big cities of Pakistan has become a hurdle to sustainable living.  Urban flooding in Karachi, rising pollution issues in Lahore and scourging unhealthy environments in Islamabad are results of illegal construction and mushroom growth of housing societies.

Credits: INP-WealthPk