Daily Times

The Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has predicted that this year low intensity of smog will be observed in Pakistan while claiming that the smoke coming from India was responsible for up to 12 percent of smog in Pakistan.

This claim was made by the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Relief Commissioner Babar Hayat Tarar during a media briefing on Wednesday in Lahore. . He was accompanied by Environment Protection Department (EPD) Secretary Zahid Hussain, PDMA Director General Khurram Umar Shazad and others.

After declaring smog as a calamity on October 15, PDMA Relief Commissioner Babar Hayat Tarar in his first media briefing said that PDMA has initiated its plans to control the menace of smog in the province.

Lahore and other parts of Punjab have been observing smog in the winter season since 2016. Since then, Punjab Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) was the key responsible agency in controlling this menace. However, this year, in a sudden move of declaring smog a calamity, the PDMA has been given the responsibility to control the smog.

Tarar briefed that stubble burning was not the only major cause of smog but there were other factors which were more responsible in adding into this very nuisance. “Actually the vehicular emission was one of the major reasons which contribute up to 43 percent in smog in Punjab. Likewise, industrial smoke contributes 25 percent and stubble burnings are responsible up to 20 percent in causing smog.”

While briefing about the cause factors of smog, he did not mention any study from where these statistics were obtained. However, different studies have been conducted in this regard which have different statistics about factors contributing to smog.

Stating the reason of declaring smog as calamity, the Relief Commissioner said that at least 4.2 million deaths occurred around the world owing to the poor air quality while due to persisting coronavirus, the situation may worsen. “Brick kiln with old technology will be shut down from November till December 31st and an FIR under section 88 will be charged against the violator,” he said adding that this time duration may be increased following the situation. To control the fugitive dust, he said that the construction sector had been warned to abide by the law.

During briefing, no expert was present at the moment to reply to media persons on queries regarding pollution level of various hazardous pollutants in the air. According to the EPD secretary, the current Air Quality Index (AQI) of Lahore was 157 on Wednesday. On a query he replied that EPA had ten air quality monitoring stations (AQMS) in Punjab. However, he failed to explain in what capacity these AQMS were operating.