Smog has started blanketing several areas of Lahore during the current week as the metropolis figured in the list of the most polluted cities of the world.
As smog covered various industrial and polluted areas, the rush at the hospitals increased due to related diseases. According to environmental experts, construction work across the city, burning of tires and tubes in factories and the failure of the traffic police to remove substandard vehicles from the roads are the main reasons for smog in Lahore. The most affected areas included Manawan, Ravi Road, Salamatpura, Daroghawala, Nishtar Town, Badami Bagh, Shahdara and Thokar Niaz Baig, etc. Residents of the affected areas have complained that there had been no improvement in the situation as the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and other agencies were not paying heed to control smog in the city. The worst effects of smog are experienced in the morning hours. Staff of educational institutions and students are exposed to dense smog while going to offices and schools from their homes. Health experts say schoolchildren and elderly people are proving to be the most vulnerable with a large number of them suffering from cough, eye diseases and breathing problems. In this connection, the district administration has intensified anti-smog operation and raids while becoming active to protect the provincial capital from smog. On the instructions of Commissioner Lahore Muhammad Ali Randhawa, anti-smog operations are going on, official sources told media. Spraying of water from mist vehicles continues throughout the city round-the-clock.
In the last 24 hours, cases have been filed against eight people for setting fire to solid waste. In Lahore, 75 industrial units were checked during the last 24 hours, eight were sealed for violation of instructions, they said. Meanwhile, the district administration on Saturday issued notices to eight industrial units in Lahore, and a case was registered against one unit for not having emission control system. In anti-smog actions,185 vehicles were checked at pickets.
In this connection, 108 smoke-emitting vehicles were challaned, while 25 vehicles were impounded at various police stations of the provincial metropolis. In a recent meeting, which was held under the chairmanship of Commissioner Lahore Muhammad Ali Randhawa, the participants were briefed that an anti-smog cell had been established at the divisional level. ADCC Abdul Salam Arif will be the chairman of the cell, the commissioner Lahore has directed the environmental officers to ensure confirmation of anti-smog actions from the third party. The commissioner also called for a report on the police action against the burning of crops residue in the areas around the motorway. The commissioner said TEPA should submit the third party report of water sprinkling around all the projects today, and a case had been registered against three land owners for burning crops residue.
The assistant commissioners are monitoring the situation round the clock, with the revenue staff. The Lahore High Court (LHC) recently barred the government from granting no objection certificates (NOCs) for any development project until January. The orders was made in response to the smog control petitions that were filed in the LHC.
