LAHORE:
In ancient times, concerned parents often prevented their children from being in close contact with a smoking relative, to protect their little ones from the dangerous health repercussions of exposure to secondhand smoke during the initial stages of development. However, no one would have imagined that there would come a time when breathing city air would be equivalent to smoking 5.2 cigarettes a day.
Like last year, in 2024 too, smog continued to silently pierce the suffocated respiratory organs of nearly 14 million people in Lahore, where rising levels of air pollution earned the city a notorious place among the most polluted in the world. In Punjab, smog started showing its effects in early winter and by the end of the year, the air quality index (AQI) crossed the 1,000 mark in several cities across the country, including the provincial capital. On the morning of November 2, Lahore’s AQI was recorded at 1,902, which turned out to be the highest pollution reading ever recorded.
Even as the provincial government declared smog a disaster under Section 3 of the Punjab National Climate Act of 1958, while imposing a green lockdown, closing educational institutions and restricting restaurants, environmental advocates like Rafi Alam believed that the government’s actions were a mere show. -off.
“If you analyze the air quality graph of the last three years, it is clear that air pollution is increasing every year. Unless the government takes steps to achieve a specific target, better results cannot be expected,” he implored. Alam.
A total of 18,86,586 people have fallen ill in the last month due to smog, of which 129,229 patients have visited hospitals for respiratory diseases, while 6,100,153 have suffered from cardiothoracic diseases. Similarly, each day more than 69,399 patients were reported to have breathing problems, chest pain or stroke as a result of smog.
According to experts, the main cause of smog is the smoke emitted by vehicles, factories and other industrial units.
Furthermore, burning of crop residue and garbage also worsens air pollution, while, the Punjab government claims, polluted air flowing from neighboring rival India is also a major cause of pollution in Lahore and They fine.
According to the Punjab Sectoral Emissions Inventory, 39 percent of air pollution is caused by transportation, 24 percent by industry, 16 percent by energy, 11 percent by agriculture, nine percent by non-traditional industries and one percent by other factors.
Dr. Zulfikar Ali, professor at Punjab University, revealed that in December, when the winds started blowing, the smog dissipates but the air pollution remains the same. “Once the foggy season begins, harmful substances in the atmosphere begin to settle,” Dr. Ali said.
According to the Lahore Emissions Inventory, during the last five years, only for 28 out of 2,070 days the AQI was recorded from 0 to 15. On the remaining days, the AQI was 15 to 35, satisfactory for 215 days, 35 to 70, moderate for 564 days, 70 to 140, dangerous for sensitive people for 543 days, 140 to 250, unhealthy for 282 days, 250 to 350 or extremely unhealthy for 134 days, while the air quality was recorded as hazardous for 27 days.
Speaking to The Express PAkGazette on the matter, Raja Jahangir Anwar, secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency, said that for the first time, air pollution and smog are among the government’s top priorities. “We started taking action in March and April by focusing on five sectors, including transportation, industry, agriculture, construction and brick kilns. The government allocated Rp 101 billion in annual development funds to combat climate change , of which a significant amount of Rs 50 billion is just For smog prevention, 30 air quality monitors have been installed in Punjab this year, while another 30 will be installed next year,” he stated Anwar.
Additional information from Muhammad Ilyas
