The National Assembly Standing Committee on Climate Change has expressed concerns over the inability of Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) to deliver and meet the targets set by the government due to lack of manpower, funds, and infrastructure.
The NA panel met with Member National Assembly Munaza Hassan in the chair at the Parliament House on Monday.Â
The committee highly appreciated the efforts made by Pakistan during the recent years for environmental protection which were appreciated at the international forums. However, it directed the Ministry of Climate Change to give a comprehensive briefing to the committee on the participation of Pakistan in the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) held in Glasgow from 31 October to 13 November 2021.
The panel directed the Ministry to come up with proposals to provide missing facilities to Pak-EPA so that it could take them to the appropriate forums and, thus, help the Agency achieve the government targets. It ordered Pak-EPA to develop proper liaison with the Islamabad administration before initiating any action against violators in order to avoid any mishap.
Earlier, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul apprised the committee on the efforts made by the Ministry of Climate Change to enhance its performance. She also shed light on the problems faced by the Ministry in this regard. She stated that the government was fully committed to curtailing unnecessary expenditures especially in terms of TA/DA as no Ministry official ever visited abroad at government expense.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Tahir Sadiq, Andleeb Abbas, Dr. Seemi Bokhari, Noreen Farooq Ibrahim Khan, Engr. Sabir Hussain Kaim Khani, Rubina Irfan, Tahira Aurangzeb, Musarrat Asif Khawaja, Zahra Wadood Fatemi, Rumina Khurshid Alam, Zulfiqar Bachani, Shahida Rehmani, Afreen Khan, and Ali Gohar Khan alongside officials of the Ministry of Climate Change.
