Lahore: Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Shahid Karim recently issued a written verdict directing departmental stores across the province to give up the use of polythene bags within a timeframe of two weeks, a news source reported.
While delivering the ruling, he remarked that plastic bags posed the ‘gravest
threat’ to the environment, and stressed shop owners, merchandisers and
wholesalers to find a healthy alternative in lieu of the plastic bags option.
The LHC has been vocal in its efforts to make departmental stores across the province abandon the use of polythene bags – and has likewise directed the authorities concerned to enforce the exhibition of the court’s orders at key places in all departmental stores falling under their jurisdiction.
According to news sources, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, on August 19 last year, had expressed his resolve to approve the plastic bags ban across the province during the next cabinet meeting. As such, the Punjab government has followed in the footsteps of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration regarding the imposition of this curfew.
The
minister also added that the Punjab government is keen to make Pakistan ‘green’ on the back of a massive plantation drive in the
province, and that a vast sum of money had already been allocated for the purpose.
