Govt to crackdown on smoke-emitting vehicles

Motorbikes blamed for 75% of transport pollution

LAHORE:

Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb has said that the government will intensify a crackdown on vehicles violating environmental laws.

She was presiding over a meeting where a briefing was given about progress on matters pertaining to air quality, school education, population and health. A delegation from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom participated in the meeting.

A road map for the elimination of smog from Lahore was reviewed on the occasion.

The participants were apprised that fines will be imposed after identifying smoke-emitting bikes through Safe City Authority cameras. The smog level increases in May due to burning of crop residue. The target is to bring the Air Quality Index of the city from 100 to 70 by 2028. Steps in this regard were reviewed. Officials said 1,800 bikes are registered in Lahore every day and motorcycles are the biggest cause of air pollution. Motorcycles generate more than 75 per cent of transport pollution. Effective legislation and enforcement will make it possible to achieve the smog reduction target.

The senior minister directed the authorities to implement a plan for establishing at least 100 vehicle inspection and certification stations in Lahore at the earliest.

The senior minister said electric bikes, vehicles and buses are being introduced to deal with environmental pollution, but measures against pollution are ineffective without public awareness. Collective efforts are essential to protect the environment.

She said the models of Bangladesh and China can be adopted to curb pollution caused by motorbikes.

She said an operation against encroachment is ongoing and heavy fines will be imposed on violation of environmental laws. An app will be launched for better coordination between various departments. She said an ongoing plantation campaign will play an important role in combating pollution as deterioration of air quality is adversely affecting public health.

The senior minister said governance was becoming difficult because of lack of a comprehensive and effective strategy. She wondered why institutions that had been working for seven decades could not make a strategy yet.

Regarding the education system, it was revealed during the briefing that middle and matric tech programmes will be launched in 500 schools of Punjab. The senior minister said there is a need to adopt a national narrative for population management.

Provincial Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat said a school meal programme will start in the first week of September. "We are paying full attention to increasing enrollment and retention in the schools," he added that standard classrooms were being built at a substantially less cost than the past.

The participants were informed that a target of 40 per cent women workers in education would be achieved.

Meanwhile, Punjab Population Welfare Department Director General Saman Rai has warned that the country's rapidly growing population is adversely impacting its environment, resources and infrastructure.

She said greenhouse gas emissions will increase and the increasing population will lead to a hike in energy consumption, which will lead to impacts on climate change.

Saman Rai said that to mitigate these impacts, the country will need to improve access to family planning resources and education with the help of the public. Sustainable urban planning strategies will also have to be developed to accommodate growing cities, she added.