LAHORE: The district administration on Monday vowed to implement limiting the operational hours of markets, shopping malls, wedding halls and restaurants as part of an energy conservation drive.

All the merchant shops, bakeries, general stores, warehouses, shopping malls, private offices and godowns would be closed at 9pm, marriage halls 10pm and hostels, clubs, cinemas, recreational places, circus cafes and theaters at 11:30pm.

Medical stores, pharmacies, hospitals, laboratories, petrol pumps, CNG stations, vehicle workshops, and service areas on motorways and highways are exempted from the closure orders.

The district administration has constituted teams to ensure the implementation of the closure orders and has established 18 clusters in five tehsils of the city. Assistant commissioners, MCL, revenue and labour department officials are included in the teams.

Deputy Commissioner Umer Sher Chattha has constituted three clusters each for Raiwind and Shalimar tehsils, and four each for cantonment, city and Model Town.

The teams will issue a warning in the first phase for not closing the shops on time and in the second phase violators will be sealed for one day. In the third phase, shops will be sealed for three days and cases will also be registered against the violators.

On Monday evening, officials using loudspeaker appealed to the traders to implement the timings.

Anjuman Tajran Lahore (Quaid-i-Azam group) Mujahid Maqsood Butt talking to the media said they would not implement the one-sided order to close the markets. He said the government had not taken the traders on board and only traders belonging to the PML-N were consulted.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2022