SMOG IN PAKISTAN

It is the most recent episode that thick fog covers Lahore, blocking out the winter sunshine, closing off the motorway after dusk and preventing flights from landing at the international airport at night. Residents of Lahore, are facing a dense blanket of smog that has reduced visibility for commuters and been responsible for several respiratory and mental illnesses.

The problem has grown worse over the last five years due to the high levels of pollution and poor air quality in the city, created by increasing vehicular, industrial emissions, coal-based power plants, and burning of agriculture waste.To break it down, smog is a mixture of different pollutants, including oxides of nitrogen (NOx), oxides of Sulphur (SOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOC), and the ozone. The main pollutant responsible for smog built up is NOx.

Historically, the most lethal smog was the London’s Great Smog in 1952, when more than 12,000 deaths were reported due to traffic accidents and respiratory illness. In 2012, Beijing faced deadly smog and resulted in a large number of casualties. Now Lahore in Pakistan and Delhi in India are hit by smog.It is also identified on Visible Earth NASA’s website, the main reason for the smog in Lahore is mainly due to crop burning which originates from Indian state Punjab and its city of Jalandhar.

According to The New York Times, farmers in these areas burn left-over straw instead of getting rid of it through other means. The left-over straw can be as much as 32 million tones. The farmers are of the view that they cannot afford to buy expensive equipment to clear the land and so resort to burning it instead.An agri-waste processing facility is working under the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited in India. They buy agri-waste from the farmers and sell it to the power plants and industries as an alternative to coal. Farmers were demanding a raise in the money for agri-waste, which was turned down. Because it became impossible to revise the rates in a fiscally responsible manner and the rates of agri-waste have almost doubled since 2013. And thus, farmers in Indian Punjab burnt their agri-waste after their requested price was disapproved.

Experts from Pakistan’s Meteorological Department are also of the view that, the main source of the pollutants in the lower atmosphere is Eastern Punjab where all the coal-based industries are centered (across the border in India).Air pollution needs to be urgently addressed as Lahore is now amongst the most polluted cities in Asia. In the winter, with delayed rainfall, the cold and continuously dry conditions retain all the pollutants in the lower levels of the atmosphere, causing the smog to spread all over the Punjab.

There is need of an action plan to address this alarming situation of air pollution. The government should establish an air quality index with health advisory and pollution emergency measures. Specific mitigation measures should be adopted by government and policy makers to control the growing air pollution such as the use of sprinklers and mist fountains, smoke tappers in crematoriums, and waste management to minimize emission of methane gas caused by burning at landfill sites. Planting of more trees can mitigate the hex of these chemical gases.