LAHORE: Concluding the Katas Raj case, the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday ordered DG Khan Cement Company Limited to deposit Rs100 million into the SC Dam Fund.
Hearing a suo motu case at the SC Lahore Registry, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar issued the directives that out of the total amount, Rs80 million would be paid for the water utilised by the factory while Rs20 million would be paid as a penalty for attempting to mislead the apex court.
It is pertinent to mention that the case was initiated following media reports that the Katas Raj temple pond — considered sacred by Hindus — was drying out.
During earlier hearings of the case, the bench had been told that nearby cement factories had sucked up large quantities of groundwater through a number of drill bores. The bores had severely reduced subsoil water levels and affected water usage of domestic users, as well as causing the pond’s water levels to drop.
The court subsequently barred cement factories from extracting groundwater from the area.
In today’s hearing, a special committee, tasked by the court in the last hearing to visit the DG Cement factory in Chakwal to determine how it stores water, submitted its report to the bench.
The chief justice said in his remarks that DG Cement claimed to have stored rainwater, but this was a lie since they had actually obtained groundwater.
During an earlier hearing, Justice Nisar had observed that the cement factories caused damage to the environment by using up the area’s water as well as causing air pollution.
“The people who are not doing anything for water are not sincere with this country; those taking no measures for water [provision] are enemies of this country,” the CJP had remarked.
The CJP said the factory owners must have used influence to get permission to establish cement factories in the area. He admonished a former industries secretary, Khalid Sherdil, “for giving away everything for free”, at which the official responded that a no-objection certificate was not a requirement when the factories were established.
The CJP noted that the factories had not taken any measures to resolve the issues voluntarily and that the owners only think of their own profits.
