Lahore, November 20, 2021 (PPI-OT):Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has directed to take effective steps to overcome smog in the province and made it clear that no negligence would be tolerated in this regard. While chairing a meeting at his office on Friday, the CM stressed that anti-smog measures should be result-oriented and directed to continue indiscriminate crackdown against factories and smog emitting vehicles in the province.
Similarly, action be initiated against factories involved in burning tyres; such units should be sealed along with the imposition of fines, he continued. The water be sprinkled in the city daily and steps be taken immediately for the procurement of electric buses, he said. The CM expressed his displeasure over the delay in the procurement of electric buses and asked to submit a final plan in this regard.
He directed to impose a 50 per cent cut in the number of official vehicles and asked the secretaries to submit a compliance report to his office. The scope of the anti-smog squad would be further expanded as 5 anti-smog squads have already been constituted in Lahore, he said.
The CM directed to take effective action against those responsible for burning the stumble. The environment protection department, agriculture, industries, transport and officials of the administration should personally monitor anti-smog measures in the field, he mentioned.
The smog has been declared a calamity in the province and any violation of the ban on burning the solid waste would not be tolerated; he stated and added that action would be initiated against concerned officials of waste management companies over any incident of burning the trash. Similarly, the crushing plants should be converted to the latest technology, like brick-kilns, and comprehensive planning be devised in this regard.
The CM said a proposal be forwarded to the federal government to make harvesters duty-free for harvesting the paddy crop. Meanwhile, a 24/7 smog monitoring cell has been set up in PDMA and geo-tagging of brick-kilns has been completed, he concluded. Earlier, he was briefed about anti-smog steps by different departments. Provincial EPD Minister Muhammad Rizwan, Energy Minister Dr Akhtar Malik, SACM Hasaan Khawar, chief secretary, SMBR, administrative secretaries, commissioner Lahore and others attended the meeting.
For more information, contact:
Office of the Chief Minister of Punjab
Government of the Punjab
8-Club Road, GOR-I, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-99205562-3
Fax: +92-42-99205561
Website: https://cm.punjab.gov.pk/