LAHORE, Sept 8: The Punjab Assembly was told on Wednesday that notices were being sent to proprietors of workshops along both sides of the Jail Road for spreading pollution in the adjacent residential localities.

Environment protection minister Makhdoom Ashfaq Ahmad on an adjournment motion of Rana Aftab Ahmad said the polluters were being warned of action if they did not stop their activities.

He urged that city district government should like the Rawalpindi district government shift all such businesses outside the city limits which were causing noise or air pollution.

He told the house that the government was introducing a system under which each and every vehicle would be checked by trained staff for emissions before issuing it fitness certificate. Present two-stroke auto-rickshaws would be replaced with CNG-fitted ones while diesel buses would be phased out within five years, he added.