The Lahore High Court ordered on Wednesday the closure of all markets and restaurants in Punjab’s provincial capital by 10pm on weekdays and seal any schools that opened on Fridays, as part of measures to curb smog in the city.

The directives were issued by Justice Shahid Karim as the court took up public interest petitions on several issues relating to the environment.

In a hearing on December 6, the LHC had directed the provincial government to keep schools in Lahore closed for three days a week, after an environmental emergency was imposed in the city.

As the hearing resumed today, the court observed that there had been a reduction in smog to some extent following the court directives.

“Now these directives have to be monitored,” the court said, directing relevant authorities to seal any schools that opened on Fridays.

It instructed the education department to ensure strict compliance with the directive.

Moreover, the court directed that all markets and restaurants in the city were to close by 10pm on weekdays. Markets may remain open on Sundays from 2:00pm to 10:00pm.

Lahore commissioner Aamir Jan also held a meeting with commercial and wholesale traders on Tuesday (yesterday) and announced that all markets in the city would shut down by 10pm on weekdays and remain completely closed on Sundays.

Restaurants, however, may remain open till 11pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

In recent days, the air quality level in Lahore has deteriorated to unhealthy levels, with the city blanketed in smog.

According to iqair.com, a website that monitors air quality across the globe, the air quality in Lahore on the AQI (air quality index) was 149 at 2:30pm today, which qualified as “unhealthy for sensitive groups”.