LAHORE – The Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to install booths on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway for vehicle emission tests and issuing green stickers.
Initially, green sticker booths will be set up at Thokar Niaz Baig, Babu Sabu, Ravi, and Kala Shah Kaku interchanges. These booths will provide green stickers after conducting emission tests on vehicles right there.
Monitoring booths will also be placed at all interchanges in Lahore. Their purpose is to prevent vehicles without green stickers from entering M2 (Lahore-Islamabad Motorway).
Dr. Imran Hamid Sheikh, Director General of Punjab EPA, mentioned that more green sticker booths will be added gradually to help citizens. He emphasized that all vehicles will undergo emission testing before the smog season begins. Vehicles lacking green stickers will not be allowed into Lahore during this period.
Recently, the Punjab government exempted certain vehicles from mandatory emission testing certification. The decision was made on the directive of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, as announced by the Environment Protection and Climate Change Department on social media.
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According to the statement, vehicles up to three years old are exempt from emission testing. This means new vehicles or those less than three years old do not need emission testing certification.
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has increased the number of emission testing booths in Lahore from eight to 60. These booths are strategically placed across the city to make testing easier and reduce waiting times.
After passing emission testing, vehicles will receive a green sticker on their windshield. This sticker indicates that the vehicle has passed the emission standards and is environmentally friendly.
In another development, More than 5.445 million challans and fines worth over Rs3.33 billion were issued for violating traffic laws, according to Punjab police sources.
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They also said that over 228,000 smoke-emitting vehicles were fined, 19,000 vehicles were taken to police stations, and the fitness certificates of 176 smoke-emitting vehicles were taken away.
The sources added that, following the directions of Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar, police are working actively to ensure better public service and enforcement of traffic rules. They said that over 3.726 million driving licenses have been issued so far this year.
The IG directed officials to take action against those who break traffic laws and to take steps to recover fines from defaulters.