Smog emergency imposed in Lahore

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has imposed environmental emergency in Lahore and other cities after declaring the smog a calamity. Along with the ban on burning crop residues across the province, the CM ordered effective implementation of a plan prepared to reduce smog.

According to an official statement, the chief minister said action should be taken to control the factors that cause smog. He said officers of the environment, transport and industries departments as well as district administration should be active in the field to implement the plan.

He said failure to implement the existing standard operating procedures (SOPs) to reduce smog would not be tolerated. The chief minister said indiscriminate action should be taken against those who set fire to crop residues. Legal action should also be continued against smoke-emitting vehicles, he added. He said the anti-smog squad should regularly check smokeemitting vehicles in the city.

The squad should ensure checking of vehicles at the entry points of Lahore, he added. The chief minister said farmers would be provided a modern harvester to destroy crop residues. Conversion of all brick kilns to the zigzag technology should also be ensured, he added.

Drone monitoring

Chairing a meeting related to the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi issued directives for the provision of drones for monitoring historic buildings and places, and addressing the issue of encroachment in congested areas.

The move would help to protect historic buildings and places from encroachments, he added. A report was presented about the restoration of the residence of Sir Ganga Ram at Taxali Gate. The chief minister said a museum and a Ganga Ram gallery would be established along with shops in Sheikhupuran Bazaar at Taxala Gate.

The government would resume the restoration work from where it had been left previously, the CM said. "Sir Ganga Ram is the architect of modern Lahore and his services cannot be forgotten," he added and vowed to restore the historic beauty of the cultural capital of Pakistan to develop it as a modern tourist hub. WCLA Director General Kamran Lashari i formed the participants that the cultural image of Pakistan had been improved by the restoration of Lahore's historic Delhi Gate and royal passageway.

At least 700 houses and 509 shops have also been restored in the walled city, where infrastructural services, rehabilitation of streets, water supply system and underground wiring works have been completed successfully