Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday allowed the city’s business centers to remain open till midnight as preparations for Christmas celebrations enter the final phase. Smoke from vehicles, factories and burning of the remains of crops have been major factors behind the dense smog that engulfs cities in the beginning days of the winter resulting in breathing issues and other health problems. The LHC judge Justice Shahid Karim issued orders while hearing a petition seeking the court’s intervention to curb smog. The court allowed shopping centres to do business till midnight on Friday,  Saturday and Sunday as preparations for celebrating Christmas are gearing up. High court bench also ordered to de-deal rice mills and suggested working on the plan of rooftop gardening as it would be helpful to deal with air pollution. Recenlty, Punjab’s caretaker government carried out artificial rain in Lahore to curb smog threat. CM Mohsin Naqvi said around 10 per cent of Lahore areas received rainfall due to cloud seeding experiment, adding that at least 48 flares were deployed for cloud seeding. Naqvi also thanked the Environment Department and UAE team for their help in the process.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)