A total of Rs979.575 million is being spent on development schemes for the uplift of Sindh’s coastal areas, including the cultivation of palm trees on 50 acres, Caretaker Minister for Environment Jameel Yusuf was informed on Thursday. Chairing an introductory meeting with officials of the Sindh Environment, Climate Change and Coastal Development Department on Thursday, Yusuf urged the department to work for the welfare and uplift of fishermen from the coastal towns of Sujawal, Thatta and Badin districts. Yusuf said the latest tracking devices should be installed on fishing boats of these areas to ensure their safety at sea and other steps should also be introduced for fishermen’s socio-economic uplift and welfare. Environment Secretary Mukhtiar Ahmed Soomro told the meeting that the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency ( Sepa) was being activated for due implementation of environmental laws especially concerning the functioning of industries. He stressed the need to establish a modern communication system on an instant basis with fishing communities living in the coastal towns of Sindh during the current monsoon season in order to forewarn them about any impending threatening situation. For this cause, the civil society organisations would also be involved for the sake of welfare and relief of fishing communities, he said. Sepa Additional Director General Naeem Mughal informed the meeting that industries were under obligation to install their own treatment plants to treat industrial effluents under the Sindh Environmental Protection Act-2014 which had been adopted by Sindh Assembly in the wake of the 18th Constitutional Amendment. He acknowledged that the implementation of the provisions of provincial environmental laws had been slow in Sindh but it could be duly accelerated through active engagement with the concerned stakeholders. While chairing the meeting, Yusuf, the caretaker environment minister, directed the officials concerned to include two eminent persons of local communities in the 20-member high-powered board already constituted for uplift and environmental protection of Sindh’s coastal towns. He issued directives that all pending cases for the issuance of no-objection certificates pertaining to industries should be cleared at the earliest. The issuance of these NoCs would enable these industries to play their due part for industrial, business, and economic development of the country, he said. The minister further said that industries should be motivated by the government to conduct tree plantation campaigns in their respective industrial estates and also to fulfil their other social responsibilities. He also called for the adoption of concrete measures to ensure the proper lifting and disposal of municipal waste blocking storm water drains as these drains should be functional during the monsoon season. All the required steps should be taken in this regard in the light of directives of the Supreme Court-mandated water commission. Keep Tariq Road clean The chief minister directed the District East administration to ensure cleanliness on Tariq Road. The filthy look of newly constructed road defaces the entire area, he said while talking to a delegation of Tariq Road Traders Welfare Association led by its Aslam Bhatti at the CM House on Thursday. The delegation included Muhammad Asad Towfique, Fawad Hussain and Kaleem Shahryar. The chief minister said he had visited Tariq Rod and found that the shopkeepers had thrown trash and other waste of their shops on the road. It is a beautiful road and is being defaced and destroyed with trash. Its cleanliness must be maintained properly and you as an association should educate your members, he said.