Schools in Lahore, both public and private, will be closed every Friday and Saturday from now on.
The decision to close schools was made in accordance with the directions given by the Lahore High Court.
The Punjab education department made the announcement on Wednesday that all public and private schools in the Lahore district will be closed every Friday and Saturday until further notice due to the smog.
According to a notification that was distributed by the education department, the decision to close schools was made in order to comply with the directives that were issued by the Lahore High Court (LHC).
After determining that the haze constitutes a catastrophe, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has issued an environmental emergency declaration for Lahore and several other towns in the province.
In addition to putting an end to the practise of burning crop leftovers everywhere in the province, the Chief Minister issued an order mandating the full execution of a plan designed to cut down on smog.
The Chief Minister is quoted as saying in an official statement that steps should be taken to control the variables that produce smog, and the statement can be found here.
In order to successfully carry out the plan, he suggested that officials from the departments of the environment, transport, and industries, in addition to those from the district administration, should be present in the field. He stated that failing to apply the existing standard operating procedures (SOPs) to minimise smog would not be accepted and that this would be a zero tolerance policy.
The Prime Minister stated that anyone responsible for setting fire to crop leftovers should be subjected to retaliatory measures. In addition, he suggested that legal action should be maintained against automobiles that produce smoke.
The province of Punjab in Pakistan has an estimated population of 110 million people, making it the most populated province in the country. In the year 2020, five cities in the state of Punjab were ranked among the top fifty most polluted cities in the world.
The current situation in Lahore is extremely concerning, as the city’s fine particle count has been consistently climbing much above 40 times the guideline standards established by the World Health Organization for air quality. According to an estimate made by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution in 2019, 128,000 people in Pakistan lose their lives each year to illnesses associated to air pollution.
