EPD launches eco-friendly mobile app

In a ground-breaking initiative, the Punjab Environment Protection Department has launched a project to create an environment-friendly atmosphere in the cities across the province.

According to sources, all the citizens will be a part of this environment-friendly programme. In this regard, a special application has been introduced and a specific WhatsApp number has been launched.

Residents of Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, and Multan along with all other small cities and villages across the province will be able to upload small videos and photos of violations of environmental laws to the eco-friendly app under this programme.

“Under this project, if any citizen sees violations of environment laws being committed by the brick kilns, stone crushers, factories, smoke-emitting vehicles and burning of garbage, throwing building materials on roads and piling up of garbage on streets, they will be able to upload small photos and videos on the app and report it on the WhatsApp number, following which orders will be issued to the officials of the nearby institutions to take immediate action,” the sources said.

EPD Secretary Dr Ahmed Javed Qazi says the eco-friendly programme will include women and youth as its participants.

“These members will neither act on their own, nor will they be allowed to start a debate, check, or give any form of orders,” he clarified. “All they have to do is to silently take photos and videos of environmental law violations and upload them in the app and report it on the WhatsApp number along with the location,” he said.

Qazi said the nearby EPD office, traffic police and regional transport authorities will be intimated regarding the report who will immediately reach the site of the reported videos and pictures and take appropriate legal action.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2023.