Punjab government was utilising all channels and resources for reducing industrial pollution aimed at ensuring pollution-free environment for the industrial workers, dwellers and to enable the business community to fulfil the international standards and requirements sources added.
Official sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that Provincial government has set up a "Green Fund" with an amount of Rs One billion for extending loan facilities to the interested persons for undertaking projects pertaining to environment, conversion of rickshaws into CNG and for the purchase of CNG buses in the Punjab.
The two stroke rickshaws would be converted into CNG in Multan, Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad by December 2007 for reducing pollution load in these cities. Besides introducing green rickshaw scheme, as many as 750 rickshaws would be given to the applicants on subsidised price in Sialkot district.
The government had allocated Rs 15 crore for the installation of combined treatment plants in Multan industrial estate and Sunder industrial estate Lahore. The work on the project would be undertaken shortly and later on this programme would be expanded to other major industrial cities of the Punjab.
Punjab government had released Rs 9 crore for setting up of Sialkot Tanneries Zone aimed at shifting all existing tanneries functioning in and closed to Sialkot into the proposed tanneries zone. In addition to this adequate steps would also be taken for the disposal of solid waste of four tehsils of the district sources added.