Smog emergency

The winter season has arrived and with that smog has started to envelop major parts of Punjab, where the air quality situation continues to deteriorate by the day. The provincial government has been vigilant this time around and has imposed an ‘environmental emergency’ in Lahore. Anti-smog squads have been mobilised, authorities have also been instructed to formulate a plan, schools have been told to shut down thrice a week, and a ban has been imposed on crop burning. If anything, the situation shows how smog has crippled major part of the province.

Radical restrictions have been set in place because air quality has reached hazardous levels and can have a severe effect on human health. Cities are under the grip of photochemical smog — a type of smog which occurs mainly when there is an excess of sulphur dioxide in the air. Many researchers have ascertained that while various indictors have remained the same during the winter and summer seasons, a significant increase in crop burning was noticed during the winter season. This is a factor that officials can monitor to better understand if there is indeed a correlation between the two. Till then, activities across the province will need to be held in abeyance until the smog clears out by the end of winter. However, the larger problem of carbon emissions — in the form of vehicular emissions, industrial pollution, fossil fuel-fired power plants, the burning of waste and coal being by thousands of brick kilns — persists and can no longer be ignored.

Throughout the years, officials in Punjab have failed to curb these longstanding issues and are now forced to seek help and adopt extreme measures to cope with the situation. It is imperative that the Punjab government tackles these existing factors and maybe no radical solution will be necessary.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2022.

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