Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb Thursday presided over a progress review meeting on four important sectors in which a high-level delegation from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office participated. A briefing was given on the progress of matters pertaining to air quality, school education, population and health issues. The meeting was told that fine would be imposed by identifying smoke-emitting bikes through Safe City cameras. Smog level increases in the month of May due to burning crop residue. The target is to bring the Air Quality Index from 100 PM to 70 PM by 2028. 1800 new bikes are registered in Lahore every day and motorcycles are the biggest cause of air pollution. Motorcycles generate more than 75 percent of transport pollution. Effective legislation and enforcement on the environment will make it possible to achieve the smog reduction target. Marriyum Aurangzeb ordered to carry out implementation of the plan for establishing at least 100 VICS stations in Lahore at the earliest. Steps were considered for ensuring a better quality index in Lahore. The senior provincial minister said that on the direction of CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif, electric bikes, vehicles and buses are being introduced to deal with environmental pollution. Without public awareness measures being taken against the environment and pollution are ineffective, she added. She said, “We will further intensify crackdown on vehicles violating environmental laws.” The Bangladesh and China model can be adopted to control pollution caused by bikes. Under the direction of CM Punjab, an operation against encroachment is ongoing. A heavy fine will be imposed on committing violation of environmental laws, the minister said. An app will be launched for better coordination between various departments. Under the direction of CM Punjab, the ongoing plantation campaign will play a very important role in combating environmental pollution. The senior minister said that due to lack of comprehensive and effective strategy, the governance system is becoming difficult. Why can’t institutions that have been working for 7 decades could not make a strategy yet? “We are further improving access to education, quality and governance of the education system.” It was informed during the briefing that Middle and Matric Tech programmes will be launched in 500 different schools of Punjab. The minister said that institutional reforms are necessary to improve the Education Department. She said that there is a need to adopt a national narrative for population management and collective efforts need to be undertaken in this regard. There is a dire need to develop population welfare awareness campaigns on modern lines and be made part of the curriculum. Provincial Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat said that the school mail programme will start in the first week of September. “We are paying full attention to increasing enrollment and retention in the schools. We are building quality classrooms at 5 times less cost.” It was further informed in the briefing that the target of 40% women workers will be achieved in education, awareness and workplace. The FCDO delegation comprised Director Development Jomiyur, Miss Clara, Governance Advisor Naveed Aziz, Education Lead Mazhar Siraj and Health Lead Sara Shehzad, Team Lead Roadmap Bilal Rao, Roadmap Team Rana Areeb Javed, Faza Zaheer, Fatima Najeeb, Jabbar Shaheen, Ghulam Farid, Dr. Ayesha Rashid, Dr. Saima Rashid and Iram Kamran. Provincial Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat, MPA Nausheen, secretaries and other relevant officials were also present.