Transmission lines: LHC seeks report from EPA

CJ Mamoon says development projects should not neglect protection of the environment

LAHORE: Extending a stay on a plea to restrain Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) from laying transmission lines for providing electricity to Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project, Chief Justice Lahore High Court (LHC) Mamoon Rashid Sheikh has sought a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by February 28.

Justice Mamoon was hearing a petition filed against the cutting of trees on the Canal Road. As the proceedings commenced, the CJ expressed his displeasure over the cutting of trees, adding the government made tall claims of planting trees and at the same time trees were being cut.

The LESCO’s lawyer argued that the OLMT could not be run if the stay was not lifted. The CJ remarked that the development projects should not neglect the protection of the environment.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that the street leading from the Canal Road to Thokar was given the status of a park in 2013, adding no tree could be cut on the Canal Road under the law. Magnetic fields created by high voltage transmission lines could cause several diseases including cancer and LESCO was cutting trees to lay new transmission lines, the counsel added.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2020.