The court observes that the campaign should purely be for the awareness purposes and directed the relevant authorities to take steps to control the smog.
LAHORE: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Dec 14th, 2021) The Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to launch a smog awareness campaign on television channels.
Justice Shahid Karim of the LHC was hearing the case.
The judge directed the PEMRA officials to make sure awareness campaign for the public and it should be purely for the sake of awareness.
“The awareness campaign should not carry the message that it has been launched by the Punjab government curb smog,” the judge remarked.
The judge also asked the officials of Pakistan Disaster Management Authority (PDMA)as to why the smog was not being controlled in the city.
On it, the PDMA Director said that low temperature became the root cause, adding that it would end in few days.
Lahore Mayor Col (retired) Mubashar Javed also appeared before the court and said that brick kilns were still running. “The smoke blackens clothes dark, when a person stands near these (brick kilns),” said the city mayor said.
He said, “Encroachments have been removed, traffic rules made, fines enhanced, still the smog persists,” adding that it seemed that the government was not serious to resolve the issue.
He stated that the vehicles were not being stopped as there were long queues of vehicles due to M-Tag.
Earlier, the court asked for parks and green rooftops to control heat besides clear directives to the government authorities to remove encroachment on the roads. The court had also directed tree plantation along with Canal Road of the city.
