40% of vehicles contributing to ‘smog’ in Lahore
LAHORE: The Lahore city traffic police has come up with different initiatives to tighten the noose around the violators following the reports that the registered number of vehicles has swelled to 7 million and 40 per cent of these are contributing to smog that has reached alarming levels in the provincial metropolis, Daily Dawn reported on Saturday.
Of the total registered automobiles, 4.8m are motorbikes, while 2.2 million others, include cars, buses, vans, trucks, etc.
Interestingly, 300,000 unregistered motorcycle-rickshaws are also plying on the roads of the provincial capital, aggravating the traffic problems, particularly, inside the walled city.
The city’s most troubled area these days is Kalma Chowk, where construction work for the extension project is underway and hundreds of vehicles get stuck there almost daily due to closure of one side of the road.
Officials lament that Lahore’s traffic issues are aggravating with every passing day and one of the major reasons is the growing volume of vehicles.
Similarly, experts say that “peak hours” for the city’s traffic have stretched to six to seven hours on various major roads, where most of the motorists have to waste their time and costly fuel to reach their destinations.
The mater has also been taken up in the Lahore High Court, where relevant departments are submiting their reports.
Meanwhile, the city traffic police have also launched many programmes in a bid to resolve this pressing issue.
In this connection, an official says, the traffic police launched a city-wide crackdown on the oneway rule violators from Friday, who are contributing to fatal accidents and traffic congestion. For the purpose, it has marked 200 `hot spots` where most of one-way rule violations are reported.
The wardens on Friday lodged 34 first information reports (FIRS) against motorists for violating oneway traffic rule. Most of these FIRS have been lodged at Ghari Shahu, on
The Mall-i, at Moazang, Bhekywal and such other spots.
Similarly, the official says, the traffic police are all set to launch a massive operation against the heavy transport entering the city without fitness certificates. Most of the trucks, tractor-trolleys, heavy loaders, containers etc, are not meeting the fitness standards, he says.