Justice Karim turns down proposal to close schoolsThe Lahore High Court has ordered private businesses in Lahore and surrounding cities to immediately halve their staff’s presence at offices to help reduce the noxious smog that is causing serious health issues.In addition to the Lahore division, Gujranwala has also been affected by smog.At the hearing on Thursday, Justice Shahid Karim ordered the authorities to take all possible measures to curb smog and protect people.
The court instructed the Punjab government to issue a notification with immediate effects to reduce 50% staff at private offices and said that half of the private sector employees will work from home.The judge said meetings should be held on a daily basis for all districts, including Gujranwala.World cities hit by environmental pollution have tried to reduce smoke emission from vehicles to clean up the air. New Delhi, which was the most polluted city until recently, used Even-Odd formula to ban half of the vehicles from roads in an attempt to contain smoke.Proposal for school closureDuring the LHC hearing, Judicial Water & Environmental Commission recommended the closure of schools. However, the court rejected the proposal.
The LHC also sought the traffic plan and ordered the authorities to set up a traffic emergency helpline, which will enable people to lodge complaints about traffic woes.Earlier, the Punjab government indicated that it was mulling over closing schools in certain cities as noxious smog engulfed the province.Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister Hassan Khawar said to curb the smog they have limited options such as changing the schools timing for children and offices timing for adult or shutting down the schools completely.A meeting of the Standing Committee on Smog on Tuesday said the situation was not very dangerous so far but if the conditions worsened schools will be closed.The committee imposed a ban on the use of Euro II petrol and diesel in vehicles in Lahore for one month.
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