EPA decides crackdown on smoky govt vehicles

LAHORE:The Punjab government has decided to enforce a strict crackdown on government vehicles that contribute to environmental degradation and in this regard, a letter has been issued by Director General Environment Protection Agency (EPA) Punjab.

The crackdown will start after January 30, teams from the Environment and Transport Departments would begin inspecting government vehicles to ensure compliance with environmental standards.

EPA Director General Imran Hamid Sheikh, has written to all provincial departments, commissioners, and deputy commissioners, urging them to ensure that vehicle inspection certificates were obtained before the deadline.

The crackdown aims to reduce pollution levels caused by poorly maintained government vehicles.The directive mandates that all officers and officials ensure the inspection of their respective departmental vehicles and obtain the necessary certifications before the January 30 deadline.

Partly cloudy forecast

Partly cloudy and cold weather continued to prevail in the city here on Monday while Met office predicted similar weather conditions for the next 24 hours. Met officials warned that moderate to few heavy snowfall may cause road closure/slippery conditions in Quetta, Ziarat, Chaman, Pishin, Qila Abdullah, Qila Saifullah, Naran, Kaghan, Chitral, Dir, Swat, Kohistan, Shangla and Gilgit Baltistan.

They said a westerly wave was affecting western & upper parts of the country and likely to persist in upper parts during next 24 hours. They predicted that rain (with snow over hills) was likely in Northwest Balochistan, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan. Cold and dry weather was expected in other parts of the country while light to moderate fog (in patches) was likely to persist in most districts of Punjab and upper Sindh during morning/night hours.

Rainfall was recorded in several cities across the country while snowfall was witnessed in Bagrote, Kalam, Astore and Ziarat. Monday’s lowest minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped down to -08°C while in the provincial capital it was 6.8°C and maximum was 22.3°C.

Meanwhile, the average AQI of the city was 174, which was considered

as unhealthy while PM2.5 concentration was 17.6 times the World Health Organisation annual PM2.5 guideline value.