Pakistan smog: Winter holidays extended for Lahore schools

Islamabad: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday ordered a seven-day extension in winter holidays across Lahore’s educational institutions due to prevailing smog that has blanketed the city and its adjoining areas.

The Punjab School Department had on December 14 announced winter vacations for public and private schools in the province from Dec 24 for one week.

Under the notification, the schools and colleges were to resume classes from January 2. However, the court has ordered seven days’ extension in Lahore’s educational institutions.

Meanwhile, a report was also submitted before the court according to which the Punjab government had approved a project to procure 200 drone cameras under a World Bank-funded programme.

It said modern drones with night-vision cameras could be programmed to report smoke emissions even during night-time.

The report further stated that long-range Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) cameras do not require human control and can automatically detect and record certain emissions from up to 3,000 metres distance.

It proposed the installation of the PTZ cameras at smog hotspots in Lahore, including Mehmood Booti, Karol Ghati, Lakhodair, Turkey Road, Ring Road, Multan Road and Bund Road.

Last week, the LHC had directed authorities to propose to the school education department to implement a two-week-long winter vacation as a step to help curb smog in Lahore.

The court had also ordered the closure of schools on Fridays and Saturdays.

While hearing the public interest petitions on different environmental issues Tuesday, Justice Shahid Kareem of the LHC observed that vacations in schools and colleges ought to be extended due to the persistent smog.

TV channels to air fog-awareness messages

A representative of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), told the court that letters had been written to satellite channels to run advertisements for the awareness and prevention of smog.

The court remarked that smog was in control to a considerable extent. However, it said the prevention of smog was the responsibility of the government.

The judge also summoned the Director General of the Pakistan Disaster Management Authority on the next hearing i.e. January 6.

Lahore-bound international flights diverted to Islamabad

Smog continued to disrupt flight operations in Pakistan and on Tuesday, too, Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) diverted Lahore-bound international flights to Islamabad which caused delay in arrival of flights as well as check-out procedure at the Islamabad International Airport (IIA).

At the IIA, too, the CAA has devised a plan for the arrival of smog-diverted flights.

According to officials, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and airlines have taken joint steps to facilitate safe air travel for passengers as a hazardous level of dense fog affects visibility in several cities of Punjab, including Lahore and Sialkot.

For this purpose, authorities have worked out a schedule for the arrival of smog-diverted flights and their safe landing.

Under the schedule, a total of 33 such flights will be operated from the airport at present.

The diverted flights include 16 international and domestic departures and 17 arrivals.