Daily Times

Forced to breathe through the hazardous air pulling millions at risk, the Punjab government has finally decided to impose a health emergency in several districts for four days.

The imposition of section 144 means everything beyond basic operations would remain closed in the badly impacted cities in an attempt to mitigate the impacts of smog. The toxic blanket refuses to let go as Lahore continues to top the unenviable chart of most polluted cities. Recent research warns how just one year in Lahore reduces one’s lifetime by an overwhelming seven years.

Adding that to a string of respiratory diseases, most pronouncedly hitting children and the elderly, we can no longer afford the nonchalance usually associated with the so-called “fifth” season. Thanks to crop stubble burning and vehicular and industrial emissions, the horrifying phenomenon has been weighing Lahore down for the last two decades with an increasing tenacity.

The course of action has, unfortunately, been quite similar: announcements of a “master plan” to tackle the menace that get reduced to appeals to limit outdoor activities. Because Pakistan seems so fixated on fighting its case for reparations from the developed world on the basis of its negligible contribution to global warming, administrations should have been a tad more conscious of this nauseating haze.

Doesn’t our inability to handle the toxic air literally water down all other arguments? Just like all the other administrations before them, it took a constant fixture on alarming AQI ratings and an uproar in the international media for the caretaker government to rattle out of inaction. The Environment Protection Department is busy tooting its own horn over crackdowns on pyrolysis plants and brick kilns. Special anti-smog squads have also stepped in the open but what were all these units waiting for till now?

Timely action and continuous preventive measures by officials are the only solace that can help save lives. But once the tide has been dealt with, it would be worthwhile to consider implementing the national environmental policy in letter and spirit. Everyone should enjoy their due right to breathe in clear air. *