Air pollution haunts twin cities’ dwellers

The twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are presently experiencing dangerously high levels of air pollution, leaving the residents at the mercy of a polluted atmosphere and multiple ailments.

The district administration’s anti-smog squads, and the Environment Protection Department (EPD) officials have apparently failed to perform their duties to overcome air pollution and seem helpless.

The garrison city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) has skyrocketed to 317 while the federal capital’s AQI has crossed 234 against the ideal value of 50 or below. The air in Islamabad and Rawalpindi is now filled with the blackest smoke, making it harder to see the sunlight. Air pollution continues to increase daily.

The AQI reached 170 in Malika-e-Kohsar Murree, 175 in the Attock district, 170 in the Chakwal district, and the index touched 180 in the Jhelum district. The EPD's campaign to stop the burning of tyres, brick kilns, stone crushers, and smoke-emitting vehicles in the twin cities has ‘miserably’ failed.

The failure to control pollution has eventually led to multiple diseases including dry lips, eye irritation, itchy skin, high fever, cold, and coughing among the citizens in freezing temperatures. Allied hospitals of Rawalpindi are receiving up to 3,500 patients daily, with children in good numbers.

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Small clinics and private hospitals in the streets are also filled with patients suffering from these diseases. Private clinics are charging Rs450 per patient against one injection and three small bottles of syrup.

According to Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Secretary Muhammad Rashid, as many as 59 smoke-emitting vehicles had been impounded, 121 challans issued, and Rs250,000 fines had been imposed in the past two months.

The EPD said 10 smoke-emitting kilns had been sealed, destroyed and fined Rs2 million, while several stone-crushing machines had been discontinued in the last three months or so.

Despite certain actions by the authorities concerned, dense black smoke continues to billow from the chimneys of several big factories, heavy boilers and large bakeries across the district.

The working at these facilities usually intensifies after dusk as numerous brick kilns, stone crushers, and tyre-burning oil shops start operations after dusk and end by six in the morning. They all are making the air polluted by releasing a lot of black smoke at night.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Benazir Bhutto General Hospital Deputy Medical Superintendent, Inayat, said air pollution was poison to human life, advising the citizens to wear sunglasses and masks before going out.

“People should consume green tea, soup, broth and pink tea every day,” he suggested but warned that the air pollution and diseases were expected to increase in the coming 10 days if there’s no rain.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2024.