LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said the government has prepared a plan to cope with smog and pollution in Lahore.
Speaking to media during a day-long visit to Lahore, the prime minster said government’s initiatives will help reduce significantly impacts of environmental pollution in the country in three years.
The prime minister said seventy percent of trees in Lahore decreased during the last 10 years. He said the number of weather monitoring centers in Lahore will be increased from two to ten, while there will be a total of thirty centers in the province.
PM Imran Khan said the government has decided to import high quality Euro-IV oil, which will decrease pollutants in the air by 90 percent. He said oil refineries will be given three years to improve quality of their oil.
He said the government will import machinery to better dispose of remains of rice crop. He said urban forestry spreading over 60,000 kanals of land will be established in Lahore. He said brick kilns will be converted into zigzag technology to avoid pollution.
He further said the government is negotiating with car industry to introduce electric vehicles in the country, and an incentive-based policy will be introduced by January next year in this regard. He said electric vehicles will be introduced, and buses in cities will either be hybrid or electric.
Responding to a question, the prime minister said honest bureaucrats have been deployed in Punjab to improve governance which will be witnessed soon. He said that country has been brought out from crisis due to government measures.
He said that PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif was allowed to go abroad for medical treatment after a medical board’s approval. He said that Kashmir issue has been raised at world level after 1965 by the PTI government.