LAHORE, May 17: District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal ordered the district administration on Thursday to ensure closure of all ‘Sheesha’ cafes in the city by launching a massive crackdown.

“Initially the departments concerned, mainly the district environment department should immediately start issuing closure notices to owners of cafes. And if they don’t close their business despite receipt of notices, the officials must use force to close them,” the DCO directed the officials in a meeting held here to finalise a strategy on tobacco control and imposition of a ban on Sheesha cafes.

He directed the officials concerned to also launch an awareness campaign among the masses about injurious effects of tobacco and Sheesha on human health. He asked the environment department to constitute special teams led by magistrates in order to seal the cafes if their owners didn’t close their business despite receipt of notices from the CDGL. He instructed the officials to ensure ban on tobacco use at all public places in the city besides displaying boards bearing public messages on tobacco use at all spots including Town Hall in this regard.

Earlier, the meeting was told that as many as 274 people died and around 5,000 visited public hospitals on a daily basis in Pakistan due to smoking. The participants were told that around 1,200 children of 6-15 years of age started using tobacco or Sheesha in the country daily.

The DCO also instructed the officials to take action against the sellers of ‘Gutka’ and ‘Naswar’ in the city.

TEST: On the basis of a screening test conducted by the National Testing Service (NTS) followed by the interview of short-listed candidates, Lahore Development Authority has declared the following 30 candidates successful for appointment as stenographers. According to a press release, 26 candidates selected on open merit include Haris Iqbal, Naeem Amjad, Zeeshan Javed, Muhammad Haseeb Butt, Abid Ali, Muhammad Riaz Amin Khan, Muhammad Khalid, Muhammad Shafique Luddan, Anjum Jamil, Ali Zeeshan, Ziaur Rehman, Amdadul Haq, Muhammad Kashif, Babar Husain, Attaullah, Luqman Bashir, Yasar Shakeel, Salman Zafar, Irfan Qadir, Safdar Allah Ditta, Muhammad Shafique, Irfan Ali, Maqsood Ahmed, Muhammad Faheem, Sakhawat Ali and Muhammad Nadeem. The two candidates selected on women’s quota are Sidra Babar and Zahra Bashir. Kashif Jehanghir has been selected on minority quota and Abdul Razzaq on the seat reserved for special persons, the release said.

SURRENDERED: The DCO has surrendered Data Ganj Bakhsh Town Municipal Officer Sardar Naseer for his poor performance and placed his services at the disposal of the Lahore commissioner.

ACTION: In the ongoing drive against profiteers and butchers in the city, the price control magistrates inspected 352 shops and challaned 77 traders.

They also imposed a fine of Rs79,400 on various shopkeepers besides getting cases registered against four others.

Meanwhile, various teams conducted 141 raids and got registered 44 cases against butchers with different police stations for carrying out illegal slaughtering. The teams also discarded 1,060kg unwholesome meat during raids, a press release said on Thursday.