LAHORE: Fog thickened and smog began to slowly recede over the plains of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday due to control over local pollutants and marked reduction in the burning of crop residue in Indian Punjab, says the environment secretary.

“Farmers in Indian Punjab have almost burnt their paddy stubble. And we are continuously controlling local air pollution contributions. That is why smog has started receding. It will be over after expected rain next week,” said the Secretary, Saif Anjum.

In the meantime, dense fog and smog disrupted air, road and rail traffic in the entire Punjab, upper Sindh (Sukkur divisions) and the plains of KP Wednesday night and on Thursday morning.

PIA spokesman said Lahore airport was closed during the wee hours of Thursday because of poor visibility caused by a thick blanket of fog and smog over the city, delaying at least 10 flights. The flight operation resumed at 11am and it took several hours to clear the backlog.

Cut in stubble burning in India also a factor

The situation on other airports in Punjab, including Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan and Sialkot, was also not good because of thick fog.

The fog reduced the visibility from nil to a few meters on the National Highway from Lahore to Sahiwal and Chichawatni to Bahawalpur.

Motorway was closed to all types of traffic from Lahore to Kot Momin, Swabi to Peshawar. Traffic on the G T Road from Lahore to Gujranwala and beyond was also disrupted.

Motorway and National Highway Police Spokesman Imran Shah once again asked people to avoid traveling during the night, install fog lights on their vehicles, drive slow and in queues to avoid accidents.

Traffic in Lahore too was disrupted in the morning, forcing delays in offices and educational institutions.

Earlier, EPD Director Tauqeer Qureshi told journalists the five air quality monitoring units in Lahore were indicating reduction in air pollution in the city. To support his claim he gave data form one such unit installed in the Gulberg office of the department, showing reduction in the particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other air pollutants.

He said the pollutants, including those from the Indian Punjab, were decreasing after touching their peak on November 5.

Replying to questions, he said steel mills were causing immense air pollution by using junk as raw material and burning rubber, cheap oil and PVC as fuel. But the government, he said, was taking action against them under the law.

So far the EPD had sealed 265 such factories in Punjab and including 161 only in Lahore, registering cases against 97 owners. As many as 1,341 vehicles had been challaned and were imposed total fine of seven million rupees. Around 175 under-construction sites were also checked and 87 of these issued notices for not maintaining environment protection standards.

He said the EPD had started rethinking its environmental governance strategy and its recommendations would be reflected in the next budget. A strategic planning unit was being established for research and analysis of pollutants and finding a solution to them.

Mr Saif Anjum said smog was also present over Sindh and KP but Punjab was the only province that could monitor air quality. “We are better prepared and are improving,” he claimed.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2017