Lahore, Dec 22 (IANS) Heritage sites here like the Shalimar Gardens, Lahore Fort, Emperor Jehangir's tomb and Badshahi Masjid will soon be declared billboard-free zones under a new policy of the parks and horticulture authority (PHA).

The new policy, which marks heritage sites as "non-commercial zones", has been approved by Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and will be made public soon.

Elahi also approved the formation of a committee comprising top officials of the Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA), PHA and members of civil society that would be responsible for reviewing all currently approved sites for advertising.

The committee would have the power to remove any hoarding or anything that could be a potential traffic hazard, the Daily Times reported.

Currently 1,200 sites have been earmarked for billboards, for which the PHA has granted permission. Under the proposed policy it will not permit "too many" billboards, though no limit is prescribed.

Irfan Ali, director general of PHA, said the body was committed to beautification of Lahore and had formulated its new commercialisation policy with this concern in mind.