K-P to buy monitors to help check air pollution

Environmentalist suggests monitors will generate data to help develop smarter, effective pollution responses

PESHAWAR: With the issue of air quality in the province getting worse, the provincial government has decided to purchase and install air quality metres across the provincial capital to check the level of air pollution, collect data and devise mitigation plans.

This was disclosed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Thursday during a meeting with environmentalist and lawyer Ahmad Rafay Alam.

During the meeting, Mahmood stated that air pollution and climate change are two of the biggest public health issues which currently face the province. Clearly, he said that significant changes need to be implemented to make a strong impact on reducing air pollution rates.

In this regard, he pointed out that the government had already made efforts through the Green Growth Initiative and the Billion Tree Tsunami afforestation project. Despite that, Mahmood said that they need to do more to curb air pollution and climate change.

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Noting that the provision of clean air is one of the government’s most important jobs, Mahmood said that they are very clear about taking measures to improve air quality in the province as a whole and will install air quality monitors in Peshawar and other districts of the province affected by air pollution.

Alam extended his full support in providing his expertise for reducing air pollution in K-P.

Among the many environmental challenges faced by urban areas of the country, Alam said that air quality is especially difficult to manage. The negative impacts of pollution include elevated risk of cardiovascular problems such as heart diseases, stroke and acute diseases, he warned.

The environmentalist said that installing air quality monitors will help distinguish between areas where pollutant levels violate an ambient air quality standard and areas where they do not.

Using the data produced by these monitors, he said, cities can develop smarter, timely responses to pollution and help ensure cleaner air for all of its residents.

Provincial Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra said that apart from the provincial environmental protection agencies, the government is also taking solid measures to control air pollution.

“We will do what it takes, we are committed to buying the necessary equipment and we will work to reduce emissions, and to the educate people,” Jhagra said, adding that the air we breathe cannot be replaced or bought.

One of the biggest air pollution challenges which Peshawar faces is from construction work on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in the city and the corresponding traffic jams on key thoroughfares. The other major air pollution problem stems from the annual phenomenon of smog in the city which comes about in the last quarter of the year.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2019.