LAHORE, Oct 8: The environment protection department has appointed a committee to persuade auto-makers to stop manufacturing two-stroke engines before implementation of the ban on it.

The federal government has announced that it will ban the production of two-stroke engines with effect from January, 2005, throughout the country.

The committee, headed by EPD additional secretary Musawwar Abbas Naqvi, will discuss the issue with the multinational companies manufacturing two-stroke engines.

The committee was constituted at a meeting attended by officials of the EPD, transport and police departments, which was presided over by EPD secretary Kamran Lashari. Some representatives of auto-makers also attended the meeting.

The EPD also held a meeting with the representatives of multinational petroleum companies and directed them to educate their staff on the mixing of petrol with lubricant.

The department also directed them to install signboards at filling stations bearing environment-related messages. It also asked them to submit monthly reports to the department regarding their internal system of checking petrol.

Around 200,000 vehicles are running on two-stroke engines in the province. The fuel consumption of a two-stroke engine is 35 per cent higher than that of a four-stroke engine, and the former also produces a lot of smoke.