LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday (LHC) ordered the commissioner of Lahore division to convene a meeting with all stakeholders for the purpose of closing down all commercial activities, at least within the provincial metropolis and its periphery, after 8pm for the next 15 days.

Justice Shahid Karim also directed the commissioner to take a decision to shut down all commercial activities on Sundays for the next two weeks in the city, which could be extended depending on the situation at the relevant time.

Conducting a weekly hearing of the petitions related to the environmental issues, the judge observed that the matter regarding smog is drastic and had reached dangerous proportions.

“It seems that the measures being taken by the government are not sufficient to control the menace of smog,” the judge noted in his written order.

Directs commissioner to shut down businesses on Sundays

The judge instructed the advocate general of Punjab to convene a meeting with all stakeholders, the secretaries of the relevant departments, the capital city police officer (CCPO) as well as the chief traffic officer (CTO) of Lahore.

Justice Karim observed that after 11pm, heavy traffic was allowed to enter Lahore and the lorries and the trucks carrying construction material were the major cause of emission of polluting smoke. He said, “This is not being controlled and has gone unchecked.”

Therefore, the judge remarked, tough measures needed to be taken against the smoke-emitting vehicles on an emergency basis.

The judge ordered the government that regular police, Dolphin Force as well as traffic police should be deployed and any vehicle found emitting smoke should be impounded.

He directed the transport department to authorise its officers to visit the bus stands to check the maintenance and fitness of these buses and lorries.

The judge maintained that any of the lorries or buses found unfit would not be allowed to ply on the roads.

Justice Karim directed the government to engage the ring road authority for similar actions. He instructed the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) to make its responsible officer attend the meeting to be convened by the advocate general, so that the motorway police were also engaged in such a way that all vehicles entering the toll plaza at M-2 and all other motorways be inspected and impounded, if found emitting smoke.

Justice Karim observed that an out-of-the-box solution would also include limiting the marriage functions as well as capping the number of persons attending these functions.

The judge sought reports on the matter on Nov 11.

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024