Daily Times

As smog was declared a “calamity” in Punjab, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered all special education schools in Lahore to send students with conditions/diseases susceptible to poor air on a three-month leave from Friday.

In the early hours of Thursday, Lahore recorded an alarming Air Quality Index (AQI) of 201 – the second highest in the world, according to the global air quality monitoring platform, iqair.com.

According to a notification issued by the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Monday, the decision to declare smog a calamity was taken under Section 3 of the Punjab National Calamities (Prevention and Relief) Act, 1958.

The notification said deputy commissioners were delegated powers of relief commissioners to take all necessary measures to control and mitigate smog. According to the notification, the Punjab government has banned several pollution-causing activities across the province. These include burning any type of crop residue, solid waste, tyres, rubber and plastics, as well as vehicles emitting visible smoke and pollutants falling into inadmissible limits.

It also banned all industries working without emission control systems, saying they contributed to the deterioration in the AQI. The provincial government also imposed a ban on all stone crushers operating without wet scrubbers, as well as on the sale and use of all types of sub-standard fuels. All types of encroachments and any parking that caused hindrance in the smooth flow of traffic on public roads were not to be allowed, the notification asserted.

It further said activities without proper safeguard, which contribute to generating fugitive dust, were to be banned as well.

Separately, the Punjab EPA ordered all “Schools of Special Education” in Lahore to send their students, who had medical conditions that could get triggered by poor air quality, on a three-month compulsory leave from Friday.

Separately, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif launched the first and biggest Super Seeder project in the country’s history.

She inaugurated the distribution of super seeders among farmers at Rice Research Institute Kala Shah Kako. She highlighted that the use of Super Seeder will not pollute the environment.

The Chief Minister announced to start modern agricultural equipment rental services in every tehsil. She set a target to start rental service of modern agricultural equipment to farmers at zero profit in 60-days. She said that the path of development passes through field.

Maryam Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan Muslim League-N government is gaining momentum, adding that no one but the PML-N knows how to perform. She highlighted that there were 300 super-seeders in the whole of Punjab. “We are adding 1000 more from today while 5000 in total will be added in our five years’ tenure,” she said and noted that to get a super seeder worth Rs 13 lakhs, a farmer will have to pay just Rs 5 lakhs, the remaining Rs 8 lakhs will be paid by the government.

The CM said that public cooperation is essential to eliminate smog. She added that seeing smoke from a chimney prompts immediate action as the smog spreads many diseases. Maryam Nawaz Sharif said that farmers will be given latest agricultural equipment at 60% subsidy while they have bought Rs 10 billion worth of agricultural inputs through Kisan Card.

CM Maryam said that people from Kashmir are coming to Punjab due to cheap bread and low inflation. She observed that one must have to be sympathetic towards people to reduce inflation. Maryam Nawaz Sharif said that abusing others does not fill bellies, people’s problems can be solved only by working day and night.