LAHORE: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called for an aggressive expansion of carpooling among schoolchildren, parents and staff to cut the number of private vehicles on Lahore`s roads and contain vehicular emissions as the city braces for another spell of worsening smog.

The EPA urged the School Education Department and educational institutions to make carpooling a central component of their anti-smog measures and ensure thatschool administrations and parents actively organise shared transport arrangements for children travelling along common routes.

In a letter addressed to the Secretary SED, the EPA Director General Abdullah Nayyar Sheikh pointed out that the prevailing air-quality situation in Punjab, particularly during peak morning hours, coupled with heavy traffic congestion on major corridors, required pre-emptive measures to reduce vehicular emissions. Staff Reporter