LAHORE: Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Punjab has issued a letter to the relevant departments regarding severity of cold.
The letter was issued to the Tourism Department, Education, Health, Agriculture, Local Government, Forest, C&W, Transport, Rescue 1122, National Highway and Police Department on Saturday.
The severity of the cold is likely to increase across Punjab from January 10 to 16. There are chances of severe cold with snowfall in Rawalpindi, Murree, Galiat, Pothohar region. Director General PDMA Irfan Ali Kathia said that the fog and smog situation is also expected to increase.
Universities, colleges and other educational institutions should issue instructions to students to wear appropriate clothing regarding the cold. Appropriate measures should be taken to protect them from the cold in classrooms. All hospitals, especially basic health units, should ensure the availability of medicines and staff.
The public is requested to protect themselves from the severity of the cold.
Use masks and do not go out unnecessarily. The PDMA control room is monitoring the situation 24/7. Citizens should avoid unnecessary travel in bad weather conditions.
Tourists should take precautions and follow instructions.
Facilitation centres have been established at various locations in Murree for the convenience of tourists.
Avoid speeding and sudden braking while traveling. Use fog lights while travelling. In case of emergency, people can call PDMA helpline 1129.
Dense fog disturbs flight operations: The flight operations at Allama Iqbal International Airport were severely affected due to dense fog and adverse weather conditions on Saturday.
According to airport sources, a total of 22 domestic and international incoming and outgoing flights were delayed.
Visibility dropped to as low as 50 metres because of the fog, resulting in delays of two to five
hours for flights to and from Dubai, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Istanbul, Doha, Karachi and Sharjah.
Sources said that despite the availability of advanced fog landing systems at Lahore airport, some airlines did not operate their flights due to safety concerns, causing significant inconvenience to passengers.
The affected airlines included Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Saudia, Etihad Airways, Air Blue, Emirates, Sial Air and Turkish Airlines.
