LAHORE: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday told the Lahore High Court that the entire brick kiln industry had been converted into zigzag technology.

A reply filed by the director (legal) of the EPA said there were 160 brick kilns in Punjab and all had been shifted to zigzag technology.

It further stated that the traffic police and transport department issued fine tickets to as many as 10,466 smoke-emitting vehicles and impounded 2,485 others for emitting excessive smoke. An amount of over Rs10 million had been recovered under the head of fine imposed on the vehicles as the fine had been increased from Rs200 to Rs2,000 in the light of a direction by the court, it added.

The report revealed that as many as 143 illegal petrol selling points in the city had been sealed following registration of the FIRs. It said a process to install CCTV cameras at industrial units had been started for their online monitoring.

Justice Shahid Karim was hearing a public interest petition filed by Sheraz Zaka, a lawyer by profession.

The judge lauded the steps taken by the EPA, however, expressed displeasure over the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) for not filing a reply regarding dumping of garbage and waste of the city.

The judge observed that the LWMC’s lawyer failed to submit the reply despite a last opportunity being given at the last hearing.

The judge also showed his displeasure by observing that the governance level in Punjab was pathetic and the departments deliberately failed to perform their statutory obligations.

The hearing was adjourned for next week.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2021