LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday ordered sealing of smoke-emitting factories and demolishing such units if they repeat the offence, besides impounding of vehicles causing pollution, in order to combat smog in Punjab.

Hearing public interest petitions filed by Haroon Farooq and others, Justice Shahid Karim observed that the smoke-emitting factories should be sealed until they furnish affidavits with the local government to resolve this issue.

The judge said the factories should be demolished on repeat-ing the violation.

Lahore Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa and other officials were present in the court.

`It seems we are on the right path, but the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) is still in a deep slumber,` Justice Karim remarked and said the court was pushing the PDMA to act.

The judge observed that the authorities needed to document the vehicles contributing to smog, so that effective measures could be taken in this regard next year.

`These two months are crucial,` the judge asserted.

The commissioner told thecourt that the government would take indiscriminate action against the vehicles emitting smoke. He said the traffic police had been instructed to impound vehicles contributing to air pollution.

Mr Randhawa said efforts were being made to encourage the use of bicycles. He said the Traffic Engineering and Transport Agency (Tepa) had been engaged to establish separate tracks on roads for cycling.

He said the government was considering discounts for the cyclistsin the restaurants.

Justice Karim observed that the government should promote the use of bicycles from October to April, the months ofwinter season.

The commissioner stated that they would run advertisements in newspapers to highlight that cutting trees was a crime.

The judge directed the commissioner to also talk to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) for running smog awareness campaigns on the electronic media . The judge also instructed the government to acquire more machines to dispose of crops stubble.

Thejudge adjourned the hearing till Nov 7.

On Nov 1, the L HC had ordered enforcement of a `smog emergency` in Lahore due to the constantly hazardous air quality index of the city.