Authorities have sealed two steel mills in Islamabad for not conforming to environmental laws, said a minister on Friday.
Zahid Hamid, the climate change minister, informed the Senate that two steel mills had been operating in violation of the Environment Protection Act and the directives of the Supreme Court.
Both of these mills had been operating secretly at night in violation of the relevant laws that made Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency to issue an order to close these mills until they install pollution filters as well as dust monitoring systems, he added.
Hamid said the mills had failed to comply with the requirements mentioned to them under the law even after repeated correspondence so they were closed on February 28, 2017.
The minister also tabled the Pakistan Climate Change Bill, 2017 to meet the country’s obligations under international conventions relating to climate change and address the effects of climate change.
The bill was passed by the upper house.