Punjab government will do well to rein in one of its offshoots, the Environment Protection Agency aka EPA. The agency has issued notices to almost all industrial units located in the Multan Road industrial area ahead of Niazbeg Thokar for not observing environmental rules and regulations. For instance, having a soakage well for collection of sewage water in factory premises is against EPA rules. EPA reckons it pollutes the subsoil water rendering it unfit for drinking. Even if we agree that EPA has a point, what arrangements has government made to provide sewage system in one of the oldest industrial areas of the city? Not to mention sewage system, City government has not even provided drains along the road for collecting rainwater in the absence of which factories in the low lying areas are inundated during the rainy season. Sitting in cushy offices, issuing notices to industries for breach of law is one thing, assessing the situation on the ground to realise miseries of the sufferers is another. EPA could justify proceeding against these industrial units only if the government had provided an alternate arrangement to manage sewage water. Lastly, how does the City government of Lahore manage the city sewage? Does it have a purification plant? As far as we know, WASA discharges the sewage waste into Ravi. No wonder Ravi water looks like grey, viscous, slime. -MIRZA TUFTAN BAIG, Lahore, via e-mail, September 27.