Addressing a press conference at his Alhamra office here, he said the government has decided in principle to celebrate Basant, adding that the event was the cultural festival of Lahore.

To a question, the minister said that exact date for the Basant festival would be announced in a few days, but it has been decided to celebrate Basant during the second week of February 2019.

To another question, he said there was no legal bar on celebrating Basant, adding that a Supreme Court verdict was also present in this regard.

About the pitfalls of Basant, the minister said a committee has been constituted to look into the negative aspects of observing Basant in the province, adding that the committee would submit its recommendations to minimize the dangers associated with Basant festival.

Fayyaz ul Hassan had already talked about different measures under consideration to make Basant safe for the general public.

He said people had proposed to impose Section 144 on the Basant day and ban motorcycle riding for a day in order to save lives besides ensuring that kite-flyers did not use metallic wire or chemical twine.