Lahore, Kasur face worst vehicular emission

Lahore and the adjoining Kasur district accounted for the highest number of smoke emitting vehicles found plying on the roads during the past month in Punjab.

The environment protection department imposed fines on the owners of 26,626 substandard vehicles across the province during the month, including 1,178 in Kasur and 1,151 in Lahore.

The Punjab Environment Protection and Climate Change Department issued the data pertaining to action against smoke emission from vehicles in all districts of the province.

The Punjab government had ordered a crackdown against unfit vehicles after surveys by the department showed that that they cause around 43 per cent of the air pollution in the province is caused by them.

In other districts, 839 challans were issued in Dera Ghazi Khan, 700 in Hafizabad, 644 in Lodharan, 269 in Layyah, 367 in Faisalabad, 303 in Jhang, 215 in Bahawalpur, 134 in Multan, 135 in Nankana Sahib, 60 in Rawalpindi and 84 in Gujrat.

According to the report, the environment department imposed fines worth Rs16.09 million after inspecting 24,333 vehicles during the period.

Punjab Environment Protection DG Imran Hamid said more checkpoints would be set up to monitor vehicular pollution.