Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday announced the government’s major plans to tackle the growing threat of smog and pollution in all mega cities of the country, especially in Lahore, by declaring that for the first time in the country’s history, a government is taking drastic steps to quell health hazard impacts of the ‘silent killer’.
Addressing a press conference here, the prime minister named pollution caused by transport as one of the major reasons for environmental pollution, saying the government has decided that till end of year 2020, Euro 5 fuel will be imported, while the current fuel will be converted into Euro 4. He expressed the hope that with such steps, 90 per cent pollutants in the air can be reduced.
The prime minister further said the local oil refineries will be given a three-year time period to improve and upgrade their fuel technology on the modern lines. Furthermore, negotiations are underway with the vehicles manufacturing companies for the introduction of electric vehicles, he said, hinting that in January 2020, the government will also lay down an incentives policy in this regard. He said the public buses running on dirty fuels and spewing hazardous smoke in the major cities are the major reason for pollution and smog, so they will be gradually replaced with hybrid or electric-run vehicles.
The prime minister observed that stubble burning during the winter season also adds to the environmental woes. He said stubble burning in the neighbouring areas of India is also a reason for intensified smog in Lahore. The government will import machinery worth Rs 30 billion to help control the issue, he added.
He said steel furnaces and brick kilns are adding to smog, and the government will make the owners of these kilns introduce modern zigzag techniques, he said.
A 60,000 kanal area of land had been identified for urban forestry in Lahore and its suburbs, he prime minister said. He observed that major cities like Karachi, Peshawar and Rawalpindi are also facing same challenges and the environmental pollution will go worst if corrective measures are not taken. “The issue existed for so many years, but for the first time a government is taking effective and practical steps to control it,” he added.
The pollution level in different cities of the country has intensified and the cities like Lahore and Gujranwala are among the world’s top areas affected largely by pollution and smog, he said, and regretted that about 70 per cent trees were felled in Lahore. To have an effective strategy, there should be monitoring centres to keep a check on the air quality, he said, adding Lahore has two such centres but now their number will be increased to 30 which will help gather accurate data.
To a question, he said fuel like Euro4 is considered as clean fuel. Now the people would have to decide whether they wanted to pay a bit more for this fuel or put the lives of their kids in danger, he said.
Responding to a query, the prime minister said with the grace of Almighty, Pakistan is now out of the economic crisis and that they will now be focusing on the economic growth, creation of employment opportunities, construction and after every six months, the countrymen would feel the difference.
The prime minister appreciated his economic team and said even the World Bank chief has been all praise for Pakistan. He said his government had inherited the biggest ever fiscal deficit and whopping debt and its political opponents were expecting that it would succumb to such challenges within months which did not happen. “The government has been facing such mafia from the day first,” he said. “That mafia has one concern as to how to save their embezzled wealth and ill-gotten assets. They are not interested in Pakistan. They gathered around Maulana (Fazl) who arrived in Islamabad to conquer it. But rather, he was coming to distribute diesel permits. All the mafia that surrounded him even did not know what were the reasons of Maulana’s arrival,” he said.
The prime minister said that mafia then rushed to the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Supreme Court. “They had one objective in their failed efforts, and that was to destabilize the government. They had only one fear that they would no longer be able to eat that halwa and feared that if the government succeeded in its economic and development policies, their antics and business would be ended forever,” he added.
Defending the chief minister of Punjab and the recent reshuffle in the bureaucracy, he said Buzdar is a gentle man who is not misusing public money on his personal security. The prime minister said he along with the chief minister considered these changes after three-month consultations with the retired and experienced bureaucrats. “All these steps are being taken to improve governance in the province,” he added.
About the issue of former convicted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s treatment abroad, he said the medical board concerned had submitted its report citing the critical condition of the patient and upon its basis and on human empathy, he also convinced the whole cabinet. He told the reporters to wait for the medical reports of Nawaz Sharif which will clear the situation.
To another query regarding a letter sent by Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif in which according to media reports he had proposed three names for the next chief election commissioner, the prime minister said he has not gone through any such correspondence yet.
The prime minister to another question said the Supreme Court has not mentioned anything about the government’s legal team in its short order at the conclusion of a case on the grant of extension to the army chief.
