After Lahore sees record pollution levels, Pakistan's Punjab province to treat smog as 'year-round epidemic'

After Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province, witnessed record pollution levels, the provincial government has decided to treat smog as a “year-around epidemic.

This is a change from the government current position under which smog was being treated as a seasonal issue, according to The Dawn newspaper.

Smog is a mixture of smoke and fog and is often linked to winters and industrial pollution or farm fires. Most of the smog is what’s called ‘photochemical smog’, which is produced when sunlight reacts with nitrogen oxides and at least one volatile organic compound (VOC) in the atmosphere, according to National Geographic Encyclopaedia.

The encyclopaedia further said that nitrogen oxides come from vehicular emissions, coal power plants, and factory emissions, whereas VOCs are released from burning of fossil fuels, paints, and many cleaning solvents. The coming together of these two types of substances and reaction with sunlight causes smog.

More from World

Nepal's new PM pays homage to people died during the Gen Z protest in her first national address This Week in Explainers: How recovering from Gen-Z protests is a Himalayan task for Nepal

The decision comes after Pakistan was ranked the second-most polluted country and Lahore the fourth-most polluted city in the world, as per the paper.

How Pakistan’s Punjab province plans to tackle smog?

The Pakistan’s Punjab provincial government has chalked out a plan to tackle smog that involves government interventions, stricter enforcement of existing policies, and awareness campaigns for the public as well as the industry, as per The Dawn newspaper.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has said that the smog should not just be managed but prevented in the first place, according to the newspaper.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

The task to implement the plan is with the Punjab Environment Protection and Climate Change Department (EPCCD).

Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in Maryam’s government, told the paper that the new strategy will enable all government departments to work together in the short and long term.

“The gravity of the situation calls for a multi-sectoral and immediate response. The environment protection department has been deliberating on viable solutions during the first hundred days of the Punjab government and has launched a preventive operation from July to September 2024,” said Aurangzeb.

The strategy involves an indiscriminate crackdown on brick kiln owners who have not implemented Zigzag Technology, checking vehicular emissions, checking industrial emissions, and checking people burning garbage, rubber, or agricultural waste, reported the paper.

Moreover, the paper reported that the government will encourage people to pool cars or use public transport to commute.

The government will also address the issues of industrial pollutants by deploying a multi-sectoral approach involving the transport, agriculture, energy, education, industries, municipal, and health departments, according to the paper.

EPCCD Secretary Raja Jahangir Anwar also touched upon the pollution coming from India into Pakistan.

“While cross-border smog contribution is a reality necessitating joint action, local compliance to environmental standards at the provincial level is our responsibility. The department has studied international practices, particularly from China and India. We have concluded that city-specific interventions focusing on greening, promoting clean energy, and controlling industrial emissions are necessary,” said Anwar to The Dawn.