On Friday, Lahore High Court’s Justice Shahid Kareem stated that the provincial capital got extreme smog but the Punjab Environment Minister couldn’t in a mood to accept that and reacted like there was no smog here.
However, Lahore High Court directed the CTO to make a road management plan for metropolis Lahore. Justice Shahid Kareem said that the court would issue an order of Rs2,000 challan for a one-way traffic violation.
He made these remarks while hearing the case on smog filed by petitioner Haroon Farooq in which Lahore CTO Muntazir Mehdi presented a traffic management plan.
Moreover, Deputy Attorney General Asad Ali Bajwa, Additional Advocate General (Punjab), and Judicial Water Commission Focal Person were also presented before the court.
Judicial Water Commission Focal Person briefed the court that traffic flow became better after removing the road-cuts.
Justice Shahid remarked that signal-free brought devastation at the Jail road Lahore and something should be done on the road to improve the traffic flow.
“Whosoever pitched this signal-free Jail Road Idea but it brought problems as citizens could not cross the Jail Road,” the judge remarked.
The top traffic cop of Lahore also proposed to ban 2-stroke vehicles that produce pollution as smog is a bigger issue than dengue and COVID-19.
Although, the Weather Department predicted dry weather in plain areas of Punjab and smog and fog to persist in plain areas.
In Lahore, the administration made five anti-smog squads to fine, seal, and penalize the smoke-emitting industrial units, factories, cars so the provincial capital would come out from the horrors of the smog that made it to the international headlines of becoming the most polluted city in the world.
سموگ و ماحولیاتی آلودگی پر قابو پانے کے لیے آج کی کاروائیوں میں دھواں چھوڑنے اور ایمشن کنٹرول سسٹم کے بغیر چلنے والے 21 صنعتی یونٹس سیل، دھواں چھوڑنے والی 46 گاڑیوں کے چالان، 8 کو بند کیا گیا۔
کوڑا یا فصل کی باقیات جلانے پر پابندی ہے۔
شہری 1716 پر اطلاع دیں، فوری ایکشن ہو گا pic.twitter.com/ErMeVR7ELY
— Muhammad Usman Younis (@CaptainUsman) November 16, 2021
Furthermore, smog, after prevailing in Lahore, Faisalabad, and Sahiwal, now made the lives of residents of industrial city Gujranwala miserable as the administration failed to combat the smog-contributing factors in the city.
Despite the crackdown, the administration and Environment Protection Department (EPD) have failed to counter the smog.