Plan to improve traffic flow on the cards: minister

LAHORE:Provincial Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht has said the Punjab government will introduce electric vehicle policy of the federal government while a master plan was underway for improvement in the traffic flow, besides ensuring conversion of the public buses on environmental friendly green fuel and investing Rs40 billion for improving environment. Addressing a press conference in DGPR office Friday, he said that all brick-kilns without zigzag technology would be closed by next year while only zigzag technology kilns would be allowed to work.

The government has been creating awareness among the industrialists about the critical environmental situation in the province. The negotiations with steel mills were underway to close their chimneys while long and short-term programmes were launched controlling the smog, he added. He vowed to make Lahore clean and green city soon.

The minister said that public transport was the largest contributor towards air pollution followed by industry and agriculture while tree population was insufficient to counter this threat. He said the government was promoting tree plantation while in first phase government vehicles monitoring was started. He said vehicle which damage environment would not come on roads without fitness certificates.

He said the scope would gradually expand to the private vehicles. Further, the flow of vehicles would be reduced in the schools areas to cut the smog and school buses would be launched instead of one kid, one car culture.