Snowballing smog engulfing Pakistan an inch per second

LAHORE: For the past few years, complaints of smog have been coming from the city of Lahore in Punjab every year in winter. To explain the situation, the government says that due to the smoke produced by burning crops in the Indian Punjab and border areas, the smog problem arises in Punjab, especially in Lahore, which reduces visibility and causes air travel difficulties, besides breathing problems and lung diseases.

But this year, this smog problem is not limited to Lahore but has spread to Multan, Faisalabad, South Punjab and even Islamabad.

Pollution or smog in the air is determined by the air quality index. And according to the report of the Environment Protection and Climate Change Department of Punjab itself, the total air quality index in Lahore on Friday was 860, while according to the Punjab Environment Protection Authority, an air quality index from 401 to 500 or above is extremely unhealthy. In the early days of this month, the Air Quality Index has crossed the level of 2,000 twice in Lahore and Multan.

These are statistics which tell us about the overall situation of these cities, while at the same time, the air quality index in different areas of the same city can be many times worse. But the government does not have the resources for its concrete information.

Every year the smog problem is getting serious in Punjab, but still to assess the air quality in the whole province, only 6 monitors are installed, of which 5 are installed in Lahore and one in Faisalabad.

According to environmental lawyer Rafay Alam, these monitors are available for $200 to $300 and ordinary citizens can install them in their homes. But no action has been taken by the government in this regard so far.

In 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency of Punjab proposed installing 30 air quality monitoring systems to control smog at various places in Punjab, among other things, for which the World Bank provided a soft loan. But according to government sources, this loan was not used at all.

Punjab Environment Minister Maryam Aurangzeb has termed the smog situation a health crisis. In just one month, due to smog, about 2 million people have suffered from respiratory diseases in Punjab. According to the statistics obtained from the Health Department of Punjab, more than 1.934 million cases of respiratory diseases were reported from all over Punjab till Thursday, of which more than 126,000 cases are from Lahore alone. Only between Wednesday and Thursday from across Punjab, 68,917 cases of various respiratory diseases were reported, out of which 6,236 cases were reported from Lahore alone.

According to the report of the Energy Policy Institute of the University of Chicago, the life expectancy of the residents of Lahore is reduced by seven and a half years due to air pollution higher than the benchmark indicated by the World Health Organization.

According to Mehnaz Asim, a resident of Baghbanpura in Lahore, the problem of smog is not limited to plains or industrial areas but even people living in houses are not safe from it. According to Mehnaz, the effects of smog can also be felt indoors, including shortness of breath and eye irritation, and many people are moving towards suing air-purifiers, but currently the cheapest air-purifier on the market is available for more than Rs35,000. The electricity bill is a separate issue linked to its use.

Similarly, according to Umar Rahman, a resident of Muslim Town, the smog has made his motorbike journey more difficult than before. Waiting for buses at the bus station is also becoming difficult day by day. Umar says that earlier it used to take him only 15 minutes by motorbike to go from his home to his office, but now due to reduced visibility due to smog, his journey time has doubled.

People are also facing such problems in cities around Lahore. The problem of smog and air pollution is not only in Lahore, but, according to the Yale University’s 2022, Pakistan was ranked 176 out of 180 countries in terms of air quality. According to the statistics till 11 pm on Friday, Lahore was the most polluted city having an air quality index of 807, the air quality index of New Delhi was 418, while that of Dhaka it was 237.

Earlier, WWF-Pakistan had demanded of the prime minister to impose a national emergency to control this growing problem. In order to control smog, the Punjab government imposed a green lockdown in 11 areas of Lahore on October 31, in which a ban on barbeques was proposed, as were steps for motorcycles, rickshaws and marriage halls. The measures included a ban on all construction work within 1km radius of the Shimla Pahari, and a ban on commercial generators, rickshaws and barbecues after 8pm and closing of wedding halls after 10pm. Meanwhile, schools were also closed.

Meanwhile, Maryam Aurangzeb issued orders to seize vehicles and shut down factories and kilns that emit harmful smoke, while to control the air pollution, trolleys carrying soil and sand were also directed to be covered so that the dust on the roads can be reduced. During this time, fines totalling 592,000 were also imposed on 296 vehicles.

Now this green lock zone has been extended to Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Multan, but local people say that these government measures are not reducing the smog.

Environmentalists believe that this problem may become more serious as the cold weather increases in the coming months.

Environmental lawyer Rafay Alam told us that all the policies that the government has prepared to control smog are meaningless because the problem of smog has not occurred overnight, for it is the result of many years of carelessness and failure to implement effective policies.

According to Rafay Alam, the government had banned marriage halls, barbecue and kilns a few days ago, whereas, according to the government’s own statistics, one of the major causes of smog is the use of low-quality petrol and coal as fuel. The proportion of crop burning in smog is very low in comparison.

According to Rafay Alam, it has taken almost 10 years for the smog problem to reach this point and it may take us 20 years to reverse. Actions taken by the government on an ad hoc basis can only provide a temporary solution but the government will have to be serious about taking steps for a permanent solution.

Regarding this whole situation and the measures taken by the government, when we contacted the secretary of the Punjab Environmental Protection and Climate Change Department, Raja Jahangir Anwaar, he said that we are working step by step to control the smog, but we are also facing non-cooperation from people in this regard.

When we closed schools and colleges to control smog, people took their children to zoos and parks. When we banned zoos and parks, shopping malls and eateries got crowded. When a notification was issued to close malls, shops and eateries at 8 o’clock, long queues formed there before that time and the rush increased.

We have advised people to wear masks and also provided them with free masks, but people are not wearing them. We have banned dine-in and food in vehicles, but still there is no reduction or change in the number of vehicles on the roads of Lahore.

Raja Jahangir Anwaar added that we do not want to affect the economy, but if people’s non-cooperation continues like this, we are also considering a complete lockdown.