Daily Times

Lahore’s tryst with air pollution isn’t new.

Breathing in the fast settling blanket of smog has, however, become an ordeal in recent days. The city’s Air Quality Index once again turned very unhealthy on Saturday as the score hovered between 208 and 320. Meanwhile, road and air traffic took a major hit as low visibility led to the closure of vehicles and cancellation of several flights. The annual smog has returned to Punjab plains with a bang after a brief hiatus in January.

With the dirty blanket getting thicker in the coming days, Lahore stands to be ranked as one of the most atmospherically-polluted cities in the world. Given the legendary air pollution problems of New Delhi, Lahore’s blanket of smog should be an even deeper cause of concern. Many in the city complain of headaches and burning eyes and throats as health experts have noticed a serious increase in respiratory diseases, eye infections and allergies in Lahore in the past four years. A greater wake-up call is the disheartening research that indicates a greater vulnerability of those with weakened lungs (due to pollutants) to coronavirus. Unfortunately, the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution estimated around 128,005 air pollution-related deaths in Pakistan in 2019 (third-highest among the ten countries with the worst air quality).

While stubble burning often makes headlines for releasing plumes of pollution, it would be anything but naive to downplay the contribution of the industries, power-generating units, and last but definitely not the least the transport sector. There have been constant violations of crop-burning in over 1290 areas. Amid plans to tap farmers (with jail time) and brick kins (conversion to Zig-Zag technology), the government has conveniently forgotten other polluters. For years, the Punjab government has been planning to issue fitness certificates as a counter to vehicles spewing thick smoke all across Lahore. Not much has been made of importing high-quality oil that could meet European standards of air safety.

Lofty goals aside, Punjab administration has yet to take action against sky-high heaps of waste sitting on roads and plots dotting Lahore. How can it manage to roll out a lasting remedy if it can’t even deal with its ongoing garbage pandemic? Though outrightly banned, garbage burning continues unabated. While little to no waste is being collected nowadays, even that cleared by Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) does not reach the landfill site.

The government’s environmental policies have been running on autopilot for too long now. It now needs to rattle out of its complacency by not relying on media reports to take action. Proactive measures should be extensively invested in so that green laws can be strictly enforced. In the long run, Lahore air quality can only be resuscitated if the heavyweight culprits are effectively dealt with. Anything else and the fight for clean air would be lost for good.

Here’s to enjoying warm shafts of early morning sunlight and remarkably blue skies! *