ISLAMABAD - Ministry of Environment, as part of its drive against the air-polluting steel furnaces at I-9, has directed the owners of steel furnaces to take all possible measures for ensuring environmental compliance besides providing relief to the residents. Unfortunately, the Capital is facing growing environmental problems because of industries emitting pollution near residential areas; particularly residents of sectors I-9 and I-10 are among the worst affected by industrial pollution. Rapidly increasing industrial pollution is one of the major problems that are contributing to air and water pollution resulting from ever-increasing chemicals and industrial emissions. As a part of series of action being taken for making these areas pollution free, the Minister for Environment Hamidullah Jan Afridi on Thursday visited two steel units viz M/s Pak-Iron and Steel and M/s Ittehad Steel Mills. The minister was accompanied by the director general and other officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA). He was received by the President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce, representative of Steel Mills Association and the owners of steel furnaces located at I-9 and I-10 Industrial Area. The minister took keen interest in the process, the quality of scrap being used, the performance of anti-pollution equipments and overall housing keeping of the industry. During visit, the representative of steel industries assured the minister of their fullest cooperation to ensure improvement in controlling air pollution. While acknowledging the efforts made by the steel industry in improving the environmental compliance, the Minister for Environment Hamidullah Jan Afridi assured the industry that he wants to see the industry flourish but at the same time they establish model industry for others to follow. On the occasion, he directed director general (Pak-EPA) to bring steel furnaces under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) so that they could enjoy the benefits of carbon credits and simultaneously contribute to reduction of CO2 a Green House Gas responsible for climate change. It was also decided on the occasion that the Ministry of Environment and its implementation agency Pak-EPA would organise awareness workshop on CDM for the steel industry. It is to be mentioned here that waste management and preventing or abating pollution are two of the fourteen core programme areas of the National Conservation Strategy (NCS) of Pakistan, approved in 1992. The 1997 Pakistan Environmental Protection Act is also provides protection of the environment, pollution control and promotion of sustainable development. Section 11 of the Act clearly prohibits any discharge or emission into the environment with levels above the existing National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS). However, despite having anti-pollution laws, the environmental protection authorities are taking little action to handle the situation. With regard to action that had been taken against factory owners so far, TheNation has learnt that out of 741 cases registered during 2008-9 against factory owners for not complying with the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS), 339 have been settled while remaining 402 cases are still under consideration of the Environmental Tribunals. The cases which could not be settled yet these included 34 cases of factory owners of the Capital City, while 300 were registered against factory owners of Punjab, 30 against NWFP factory owners, 9 against Balochistan and 9 were registered against factory owners of Sindh province.