LAHORE: The Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has launched a crackdown on the people littering the city during the last couple of days while 110 FIRs had been registered and 11 people had been arrested by various police stations over littering.

“The crackdown has been launched against all those littering the city in any form—solid waste dumping at non-designated points, throwing construction and building material on the roads, in the open spaces and burning the waste, debris etc,” said an official while talking to Dawn on Tuesday.

“Such practices are also some of the contributing factors to smog,” he added.

According to him, 110 FIRs included 30 registered against the developers/owners of private housing schemes for not making appropriate arrangements to gather and dispose of the solid waste within their limits. All FIRs have been registered under the Punjab Local Government Act.

“Fines amounting to Rs600,000 have also been imposed on the violators.”

The official said Section 144 had been imposed on illegal waste dumping, burning and throwing construction waste on roads and other activities leading to environmental issues.

“The citizens are encouraged to report cases of garbage burning via the LWMC helpline 1139 or through social media channels,” he said.

To another question, the official said a number of teams were collecting and disposing of more than 5,000 tonnes of waste from various parts of the city on a daily basis. He added that anti-smog squads were also engaged in washing the areas having high air quality index (AQI).

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2024