Environmental Protection Department (EPD) has sealed 170 brick kilns, besides registering 169 FIRs during a province-wide campaign against the scourge of pollution during last 15 days. Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday.
While giving details, the senior minister reported that during this period, the department inspected a total of 4488 brick kilns in various districts, and 170 kilns were sealed for violations of environmental laws, 705 brick kilns were issued notices and fines totaling Rs.20.1 million were imposed on the owners of brick kilns found guilty of environmental law violations. Similarly, police were also approached for the registration of FIRs against 169 kiln owners for violations.
She stated that kiln owners were given a deadline to adopt zigzag technology. Only brick kilns equipped with zigzag technology will be allowed to operate, as per the directive of the Punjab chief minister. Every possible effort will be made to protect citizens from pollution and strict action will be taken against violations of the Smog Rules 2023, she added. The senior minister further stated that a grand operation against environmental law violations has been launched from today onwards. In the next phase, inspections will begin to check emissions of smoke and toxic substances from industries.
