No one pays heed to increase in green houses: LHC

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday remarked that Lahore has become a jungle of concrete but no one has paid attention to increase greenhouses.

Justice Shahid Karim made these remarks while hearing a petition filed against environmental and water pollution. Earlier, Kamal Haider Nayyar on behalf of the commission set up by the court presented a report on the steps taken to eradicate smog. It stated that the commission has issued show-cause notices to 10 sugar mills for not installing treatment plants.

However, petitioner's counsel Shiraz Zaka told the court that four DGs of the environmental agency have been replaced in the last six months. Saving underground water is an important responsibility. Practice of cutting trees under the guise of public or private development projects should be stopped. The Parks & Horticulture Authority (PHA) should deploy its officers to protect the trees in the urban areas, formulate a policy of planting fruit trees on the roofs of high-rise buildings. Such measures will significantly reduce the temperature.

PHA DG Jawad Qureshi told the court that large reservoirs were being constructed to protect the rainwater. The PHA DG appeared in person and undertook that no tree cutting would be allowed and he submitted that appropriate directions must be passed to LDA as well.

The LDA DG apprised the court that crop burning had been banned and appropriate steps had been taken not to allow any cutting of the trees alongside the green belts and in parks. The court observed that Pakistan was the fifth most vulnerable country regarding climate change and global warming. The court hinted that it would issue an order to protect the trees being cut under the guise of development projects. The court adjourned the hearing for a week.