LAHORE: Several people were injured after a chain collision of more than three dozen vehicles on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway due to poor visibility caused by torching of waste of the cultivated fields by farmers.

The incident occurred near Kala Shah Kaku in the afternoon and the vehicles were heading from Lahore to Islamabad.

Eyewitnesses said a driver suddenly stopped his car due to dense clouds of smoke billowing from the fields. It resulted in the multiple-vehicle collision after the drivers of cars and passenger buses lost control.

A video clip of the incident went viral showing more than three dozen partially damaged vehicles on the motorway and the smoke.

A motorway police official said it was the third such incident during the last one month in the same area as there is no check on farmers setting fire to the waste of the fields. He said vehicles collided leaving several people injured in the earlier two such incidents.

The motorway police authorities had taken up the matter with the Sheikhupura district government to take notice of this incident for action against the farmers, he said. The official further said the Sheikhupura deputy commissioner then brought the matter to the notice of the home department to impose Section 144 in the surroundings of the Lahore-Islamabad motorway to stop farmers from jeopardising the lives of people.

He said the motorway police authorities took up the issue with the district authorities again on Friday reminding them that such activities could prove fatal if not stopped forthwith.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2021