Staff Report
LAHORE: Pakistan’s Government of Punjab has imposed an environmental emergency in Lahore declaring the city calamity hit where air quality and smog situation continues to get worse day by day.
The air quality of the air in Lahore is deteriorating to a hazardous level with each passing day.
Punjab Chief Minister, Chaudhary Parvez Elahi said during a press conference on Tuesday that an emergency had been imposed in Lahore and authorities are being instructed to make a plan to overcome the worsening situation.
He said that a ban had also been imposed on the burning of crop residue across the province and a strict action to be taken against the ones violating the orders.
Punjab Imposes Environmental Emergency in Lahore
He further said that modern harvesting tools would be provided to farmers to prevent them from stubble burning. Brick kilns will also be transferred to zigzag technology.
He said that the anti-smog squad will be checking all vehicles in the city emitting pollution and strict action will be taken against the owners of vehicles emitting smoke and this campaign will run for three days.
Lahore High Court directs to shorten schooldays to three a week
Moreover, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the Punjab government to keep schools in the provincial capital Lahore closed for three days a week due to smog.
The order was issued by Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Shahid Karim.
Previously, the judge had observed that the Punjab government seemed non-serious about the smog issue.
While in today’s hearing, the chief justice remarked that the petitions mentioned that authorities had failed to take appropriate steps to deal with the issue of smog. He instructed the government to issue a notification ordering the closure of schools for three days.
For his part, the government’s lawyer assured the LHC that a draft of the notification had been prepared and will be issued today.
Subsequently, the judge asked the government to present the notification in court tomorrow and summoned the deputy commissioner of Lahore.
