Daily Times

Lahore was once a beautiful city. I grew up and found it a robust and sophisticated city. A city that had emancipating love and morality. At least this was the concept. I do remember the winters being cold and there was always frost and mild cover of midst. There were days of zero visibility. You had all the prayers working in December nights.

Walking to school in a cold brazen morning was fine as long as you were not driving. Later in my life, wedding seasons was a nightmare. You could hardly see the road and yet found your way home. Very blessed nights.

Now, you walk out and your chest hurts. The morning drops have changed into a dust that is unparalleled in the world. Lahore is the worst city to live in from a pollution stand point. Imagine this!

You are playing with the minds, souls, bodies of every single person living in that community. You are  taking away precious moments. People are not safe outside. They tend not to move outside and enjoy the moments since the cough begins. Elderly are getting sick and the weak are deteroriating.

Now lets talk about the psychology of this dilemma. We have the two main parties from Pakistan. An entire ecosystem of politicians and government officers. We have a weather detection system and yet everyone is clueless on the findings? The same people live in lahore that are responsible for the unjust and unruly design of the quality of life.

Honestly, this is a crime. A major catastrophe. You cannot have a government in office that is not curbing this menace. Similar is the case with mansoon seasons. The governments keep on playing wishy washy and now the state of affairs is the eliminiation of years of life. This is not accepatable.

Climate control is an important task for any government. But coming to a point where you enable the city to become the most polluted city in the world is something that needs accountability. You need to hold people accountable. You are shaving off life from the very citizens that are paying the bills.

The burning of fossil fuels for energy, transportation, and industrial processes releases pollutants such as particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. These pollutants contribute to the formation of smog when they react with sunlight and other atmospheric compounds. Factory owners need to be held accountable and devises used to measure these particuls in the air.

Additionally, crop burining adds to the equation. Crop burning can be stopped and the farmers held responsible. Why is the government not taking measures to curb this menace?

High pace urbanization without the right infrastructure is another contributing factor. Though many cities grow. Urbanizatin is a universal phenomenah. And yet many countries have mastered the art of adding sanity in urbanization.

Deforestation is another contributing factor. Adding more trees might help but who is calculating the numbers required?

I believe I am a good citizen. I am not a farmer that burns crops. I have all cars that are well maintained and do not have combustion problems. I did some research and found that smog is caused by multiple factors. I have planted more than 100 trees in my life time and my garden can boast of many plants. I am not a factory owner and take pride in being a pollutant free citizen.

Like we are bicotting the products from Israel, we need to do the same for the industrial units that are emitting gases.

Holding the government accountable can only happen if you take to the streets. You need to take the politicians accountable for the mishap and bad management of our country. You have done the  same for PIA and now doing it again for Punjab. Stop killing us.

The author is an accomplished psychologist with over 20 years of experience specializing in wellness, positive psychology, mindfulness, and depression management.