LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday hearing petitions against government’s failure to control smog expressed displeasure over burning of stubble despite its order and directed deputy commissioners of four cities of Punjab to explain their position on October 18.

The court also sought details of the commercial plazas operating in Lahore without their own parking spaces.

Earlier, an official of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) told the court that incidents of stubble burning had been reported in four districts including Gujranwala, Okara, Kasur and Hafizabad.

The court observed that serious steps were needed to be taken to curb the smog and other environmental problems. The government should operate buses for the transportation of school children as it would help control air pollution on roads caused by heavy flow of traffic, the court added.

The court observed that the solution to the parking miseries was in a better public transport system.

The court also proposed internship programmes to sensitize the students on the environmental issues.

The chief town planner of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) submitted a report before the court saying that directions had been issued to the plazas to allocate parking spaces for the visitors.

He said there were approximately 1.7 million cars in the city with insufficient parking facilities. He said the majority of the commercial buildings used public roads for the parking purpose. The officer was of the view that the city had been dealt with reckless policies.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022