To control air pollution in Lahore, the Punjab government on Friday decided to start online surveillance of smoke emitting industrial units.
The decision was made during a high-level meeting convened in this regard, presided by Lahore Commissioner Capt. retired Muhammad Usman Younas.
The meeting was informed that as many as 305 industrial units in the Lahore district were using boilers and most of them were steel mills that emitted huge amounts of toxic smoke.
“To keep the record updated, a new survey regarding the emission of industrial units in the district is being conducted on the instructions of the Judicial Environment and Water Commission,” the meeting was informed.
Younas said that the Lahore office of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) had started online surveillance of smoke emitting units by installing CCTV cameras on the chimneys and boilers of at least 126 industrial units in the district. He said that the installation of CCTV cameras at every industrial unit would be helpful in controlling pollution in the city.
The commissioner was informed that cells had also been set up in EPA’s district, Judicial Commission and in commissioner offices to monitor the pollution situation around the clock.
Moreover, an online app was also set up for monitoring purposes.
EPA officials were given the task to complete the survey of the district and to create the map of all industrial units. Commissioner directed to make sure the online surveillance of all industrial units having boilers was conducted within two months.
