Twin cities smogged with EPA, MoCC unmoved

Mixture of steel re-rolling mills, brick kilns, unstandardised vehicles add to public’s misery

ISLAMABAD: Even as central Punjab grapples with thick smog, the capital too has been suffering from its own problems of bad air, thanks to the presence of smoke-emitting re-rolling mills in the heart of the city.

However, the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) and the apex environmental watchdog, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA), seemed to be least bothered to clamp down on the issue.

Officials at the Ministry of Climate Change told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity that the Pak-EPA had launched an operation against steel rerolling mills in compliance with court orders.



However, these mills later started operating at night to hide the smoke they were emitting in the dark. The MoCC official added that the Pak-EPA then covertly recommended that the mills consult a former director general of the authority to find a way out.

The official maintained that the former EPA director prepared an environmental report for these mills and charged a handsome amount as consultation fee which was then allegedly distributed among officials of the environmental watchdog and other key enforcers.

In lieu of the report, the rerolling mills are allowed to run scrubbers, mandatory to manage the smoke emitted and to convert it into solid carbon, the sources alleged, adding that most of the steel re-rolling mill owners continue production while keeping their scrubbers shut to save on the costs.

Mills part of the problem

However, the steel re-rolling mills are only a part of the capital’s smog jigsaw.

Smoke is emitted from the fast-rising number of cars and other vehicles in the capital — with the population of the city more than doubling to 2.07 million from just 805,235 in 1998 — is another factor responsible for the increase in the air and noise pollution in the capital.

Since the country has yet to develop a laboratory or a mechanism to check emission standards of locally assembled vehicles, gas guzzling vehicles continue to spew smoke despite the adoption of Euro -II emission and fuel standards in 2012.

Moreover, according to the Engineering Development Board (EDB) figures over 125 companies produce around 2.2 million motorbikes while 25 firms produce thousands of auto-rickshaws annually in the country.

“In the absence of a centralised mechanism, the number of unauthorised and untested two and three wheelers goes higher and higher with each passing day,” an official at the EDB told The Express Tribune while requesting not to be named.

“A large number of locally manufactured and assembled vehicles carrying Euro-II emission standard emblems roll out on the roads without actually having authentic certificates,” a Pak-EPA official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity.

‘Smoke’ kilns

However, by far, the biggest polluters in and around the capital are brick kilns which burn tonnes of coal every year to fire the kilns and bake the bricks.

The continuous emission of harmful gases from these kilns has severely deteriorated the air quality in the city.

A few years ago, over 50 brick kilns located in Lohi Bher, Tarlai and adjoining areas were shifted to Lousar, a village adjacent to Rawat and Mandra owing to the mushrooming growth of housing societies and the smoke emitted from these kilns affected potential residents.

But even as the kilns relocated to make way for the housing societies, the demand for bricks at these very societies tempted the kilns to increase their production manifold — hence increasing their emissions. At least two brick kilns resumed operations in Tarlai.



“On average, a brick kiln requires around 5.5 metric tonnes of coal every month, it means more than 3,400 metric tonnes of coal is burnt in Islamabad and Rawalpindi for brick production,” said Chaudhry Rehman, the owner of a brick kiln.

According to a spatial analysis of the air in the twin cities, conducted by a group of students from the National University of Science and Technology and volunteers showed that the air in Islamabad had an air quality index rating ranging from 98 to 114 — well above the safe limits.

However, some kiln owners took it upon themselves to produce bricks made at relatively environmental-friendly kilns.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2017.