Smog: Court orders to seal pollution emitting factories again

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) expressed resentment over de-sealing the factories emitting pollution to the city’s environment and ordered to seal them again, ARY News reported on Friday.

According to the details, the Justice of LHC Shahid Kareem heard the petitions regarding smog control in Lahore and ordered to take action against two officers from the environment department, adding that no officer is allowed to de-seal the industries sealed by the court.

Justice Shahid Kareem stated that the government is taking measures to control smog, however, the citizens have to cooperate and help the government to end this pollution.

The court admonished the Director General (DG) Environment for not taking adequate action, asserting that the court should not bear the sole responsibility and urged the DG to attend the next hearing and present the condition of the situation before the court.

The DG Environment stated that the government has formulated short-, medium-, and long-term projects to address the environmental crisis in Lahore.

Earlier this month, the Lahore High Court (LHC) directed authorities to implement a smog emergency in the provincial capital, in order to address the persisting issue of smog.

According to the details, the court directed the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to be involved in the smog emergency response.

The court has decided that Commissioner Lahore and other officials to personally visit schools and colleges to raise awareness among the students.

Commission Lahore in the court claimed that the wide smog remediation operations are now underway. Authorities have started taking action against the smoke-emitting vehicles.