The licence of manufacturing of 17 out of 24 cement factories in country has expired, official documents obtained by The Nation revealed. A report prepared by the Pakistan Standard Quality and Control Authority (that renews licence) shows that the manufacturing licence of 17 companies has expired. The Authority is empowered to stop manufacturing, storage and sale of such products which do not conform to the Pakistan or any other country's standards recognized by this authority. But, according to official sources, the mighty cement manufacturers are not complying with the rules and standards prescribed by the national authority. Official sources said that validity of 17 cement factories has expired and the manufacturers were not willing to get renewed the licence just to save the payment of licence fee. The official disclosed that 5 cement factories are located in Punjab, 7 in Sindh, 3 in NWFP and 2 cement factories located in Balochistan whose licence has expired. Five cement factories of Punjab namely Pakistan Cement, Askari (Fuji) cement, Fecto cement Ltd, Gharibwal cement Ltd and Dandot cement who