LAHORE - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday imposed a complete ban on cutting of trees in the city in an attempt to curb the rising smog.
The court also observed that a law should be enacted for declaring cutting of trees a criminal offence. Justice Shahid Karim passed the orders while hearing various petitions filed by Haroon Farooq and others for steps to curb the rising smog.
During the proceedings, the court observed that the situation of smog was already very bad in the city and the cutting of trees would further worsen it. The Environment Protection Department should not issue NOC to any project, if it involved cutting of trees, it added. At this stage, a federal law officer submitted that caretaker Punjab government had issued a working paper to hire services of Chinese experts for curbing the smog. To which, the court asked the law officer to share the working paper with the Chinese government through the federal government, observing that the services of Chinese experts would prove helpful in controlling the smog.
