LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has issued a notice to the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) on a petition of preceding Turkish contract Al-Bayrak for the refund of its security amount.

The contractor contended that the LWMC denied its further contract for lifting waste and also withheld the security it deposited at the time of the award of the contract.

It asked the court to order the respondent to reimburse the security deposit of the petitioner as per the contract.

Justice Ayesha A Malik sought a reply from the LWMC by March 17.

The judge would take up on Wednesday a petition questioning the failure of the LWMC to lift waste in Lahore making the metropolitan city polluted.

A member of the public, Usman Khan filed the petition through advocate Sheraz Zaka that the city became the second most polluted city of the world due to air pollution and garbage lying in the open areas.

He said the LWMC and other authorities failed to perform their statutory obligations.

The petitioner submits that the current status of the increased air pollution warrants the need to raise a red flag. He states that the issue of pollution has been further exacerbated by burning of waste and heaps of garbage lying in almost all parts of the city, including Faisal Town, Allama Iqbal Town, Gulberg and Samanabad.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2021