The smog dilemma: Lahore’s plight and the urgent need for collaborative solutions

Lahore has been declared the world’s most polluted city, recording a shocking air quality index (AQI) of 395. This is a seriously hazardous level of pollution which can cause breathing difficulties, skin infections, eye irritations and coughing amongst the city’s residents. An AQI over 100 is considered unhealthy, with levels exceeding 150 considered as ‘very unhealthy’. Crop residue burning and industrial emissions are the primary culprits behind Lahore’s deepening pollution crisis. Punjab Information Minister, Azma Bokhari declared that the government has taken several initiatives to address the matter and is now planning for artificial rain in the city, she was addressing a press briefing in Lahore.

Smog, a combination of smoke and fog, occurs when pollutants mixed with cold, moist air linger near the ground, reducing visibility and exacerbating respiratory health problems. This phenomenon has increasingly left its imprints on Lahore, where residents are exposed to harmful micro particles daily.

The Punjab government has also formed an Anti-Smog Squad whose job will be to educate farmers on sustainable practices to reduce crop burning including promoting the use of super seeders and will be offering alternative methods for residue disposal. The government is urging farmers to avoid burning the crop residues, warning them against the hazardous effects not only on the environment but also on children’s health. Punjab Chief Minister, Maryam Nawaz has also called for ‘climate diplomacy’ with India to mitigate smog impact in the province. She held that both sides need to undertake joint efforts to combat smog because the stubble burning in India’s Punjab impacts across the border because of air direction. Punjab Senior Minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb who holds the charge of the Environment Ministry said that all though the government has declared a war on smog, the positive effects of the measures taken to combat it will become visible in 8-10 years. She added that environmental protection has been included as a subject in the curriculum in Punjab Province. It would be the second time that Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan, and one of the cities to regularly face worse pollution, would carry out cloud seeding for artificial rain. At an estimated cost of rupees three-fifty million, the first cloud seeding was done in December 2023 to combat hazardous levels of smoke.

The Punjab Police has been carrying out, track downs against cars that emit excessive smoke, factories and brick kiln owners in order to prevent smog and protect the environment. Up till now, seven fifty three accused have been arrested while nine ninety nine cases have been registered. One lakh, thirty three thousand, seven thirty, seven cars have been challaned and a hefty amount of twenty one crores, four lakh, eighty thousand rupees in fine has been slapped. Based on ill fitness, forty three thousand and forty five cars have been locked up in police stations. Due to emitting excess smoke, two thousand, five hundred and ten cars got their fitness certificate suspended, root permit of fourteen hundred and seventy six cars have been suspended while FIRs were registered against one sixty three cars for emitting poisonous smoke.

DIG Operations, Muhammad Faisal Kamran has said that to implement upon Smog Provincial and Control Rules 2023, Lahore Police has made a special patrolling plan according to which a sharp eye will be kept on the outerskirts of the city, crop remnants, brick kilns and tire burning pyrolysis plants. Immediate cases will be registered against those breaking the rules of the Smog Prevention and Control 2023.

The Lahore High Court has given orders against any tree cutting for the completion of developmental plans in the city, the court also directed the Environment Department to spread awareness about their helpline among the masses. In order to curb the smoke emitted by the public transport running on fuel, Punjab Government has decided to take a three hundred million dollar loan from the World Bank, to introduce electric public transport in the province. The Punjab Government will be bound to return this loan in 25 years. The loan will be given on a two percent profit for smog eradication in Punjab.

Every year since the last six years the lives of the residents of Lahore are majorly effected by the poisonous AQI levels in the city, just as the city start to find relief in the balmy evenings, the invisible arsenic gases in the air lunge towards them obstructing daily life and increasing the number of patients being admitted to hospitals with various breathing problems. Both the governments of India and Pakistan need to work together to put the smog genie back in the bottle, along with mobilizing the masses to do their individual bit for curbing this poison effecting our future generations.