LAHORE, May 19: A decision regarding the fate of the seven out of nine liquid crystal display (LCD) screens installed in the city that are switched off since April is likely to be taken by the end of next month, Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) sources told Dawn.

PHA spokesman Javaid Shaida told Dawn that a feasibility report would be prepared and decision would be taken regarding shifting these LCD screens to new locations on June 30.

All screens that were currently on greenbelt areas would be removed, he added.He said that a committee, headed by PHA director general Irfan Ali, would convene on that date and their findings would thereafter be made public.

In addition to a decision on the fate of the LCD screens, Shaida said that numerous complaints had been received regarding the haphazard placing of shop-front boards, especially on The Mall.

The PHA would direct those shops to place all their boards at the same height and give guidelines regarding their size and shape to maximise their aesthetic appeal, he said.

Shaida said that architect Nayyar Ali Dada has pulled out of the billboards and

LCD screens committee owing to other commitments and architects Wasif Ali Khan and Fahim Ahsan Jamil had replaced him.

The other members of the committee are representatives of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Traffic Police, Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA), district government and the director general of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA).

Removing the LCD screens would mean that the private investors who bought them would be left shortchanged.

Mehboob Ali Shah, who works with an advertising agency that runs LCD screens in Gulberg, earlier told Dawn that all developers had previously obtained permission from the PHA and had paid up to $300,000 for each screen. The PHA took a u-turn following a media outcry over safety issues.

Traffic Police Chief Ghulam Mehmood Dogar as well as EPA representatives both told Dawn last month that they were never consulted regarding the screens’ placement in contravention of the PHA’s own policy.

Dogar had raised objections regarding road safety, as screens could prove distracting to drivers.

Maj Shah Nawaz Badar (retired) of the EPA said they had not yet commissioned an environmental study on the impact of the screen’s diesel generators.

When questioned about the PHA’s about-turn in policy, Shaida chose to answer philosophically.

Likening the PHA to a father figure, he said: “It’s like a father whose one son comes to ask him if he may use his car. The father replies ‘yes, of course’, but later another sibling protests and says the decision is unfair. The father then goes back and tells the first son, ‘ok son, let me think about this decision first’.”