Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has ordered for taking effective measures to overcome smog in the province and made it clear that no negligence would be tolerated in this regard.
Chairing a meeting at his office on Friday, the CM stressed that anti-smog measures should be result-oriented and ordered for continuing indiscriminate crackdown on factories and smoke-emitting vehicles in the province.
Similarly, action be initiated against factories involved in burning of tyres, the CM said, adding that such units should be sealed along with imposition of fine on them. Water should be sprinkled in the city daily and steps should be taken immediately for procurement of electric buses, he added.
The CM expressed his displeasure over delay in procurement of electric buses and asked to submit a final plan in that regard. He ordered for reducing the number of official vehicles by 50 per cent. He directed the secretaries to submit a compliance report to his office. The scope of the anti-smog squad would be further expanded as five anti-smog squads have already been constituted in Lahore, he said. The CM ordered for taking effective action against those responsible for burning stumble. The environment protection department, agriculture, industries, transport and officials of the administration should personally monitor anti-smog measures in the field, he added.
Smog has been declared a calamity in the province and any violation of the ban on burning the solid waste would not be tolerated, he said and added that action would be initiated against the officials concerned of the waste management companies over any incident of burning of trash.
Similarly, the crushing plants should be converted to the latest technology, like brick-kilns, and comprehensive planning be devised in this regard.
The CM said a proposal be forwarded to the federal government to make harvesters duty-free for harvesting the paddy crop. Meanwhile, a 24/7 smog monitoring cell has been set up at the PDMA offices and geo-tagging of brick-kilns had been completed, he concluded.
Earlier, he was briefed about the anti-smog steps, taken by different departments.
Provincial EPD Minister Muhammad Rizwan, Energy Minister Dr Akhtar Malik, SACM Hasaan Khawar, chief secretary, SMBR, administrative secretaries, commissioner Lahore and others attended the meeting.
CM vigilantly monitoring anti-smog drive: SACM
Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) Punjab and Spokesperson for Punjab Government Hasaan Khawar has said that on the instructions of Sardar Usman Buzdar, all resources were being utilised to deal with the smog calamity.
In this regard, emergency and long-term measures were being devised, while special instructions had also been issued to the departments concerned.
Talking to the media during his Data Darbar visit here on Friday, he said that CM Usman Bazdar was vigilantly monitoring the progress on anti-smog drive by a fortnightly inter-departmental review meeting. Anti-smog squad had also been mobilised for inspection of industries while the CM had also directed the transport sector to formulate a comprehensive strategy to deal with traffic problems, he added. Provision of Euro-5 fuel was being ensured to mitigate smog, he said.
He also congratulated the Sikh community on the 552nd birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak and termed the reopening of Kartarpur Corridor after corona a double happiness. He stated that the district administrations of Gujranwala, Narowal, Sialkot, Attock and Nankana had been directed to provide the best facilities and security to the Sikh yatrees.
Hasaan Khawar said that the Punjab government would continue to play its role in providing all possible facilities to all minorities including Sikh community, he added.
