• Hazardous environment forcing Lahoris to alter their lifestyles
• Experts say dearth of accurate data means govt actions fail to adequately address issue

A MORNING walk in Model Town Park is part of Hassan Ali’s daily routine. It includes three laps of the park’s 2.5km jogging track.

His body has become acc­ustomed to this, and he never used to “face any difficulty” during the walk.

Then, toxic smog started enveloping Lahore, and air pollution started rising beyond hazardous levels.

Now, his doctor has advised him to cut short his walk, a suggestion Mr Ali is only too happy to follow.

He is one of Lahore’s more than 13 million citizens forced to alter their lifestyles due to smog, which has become a recurring issue in the city.

As winter approaches, the air quality starts deteriorating as denser cold air traps pollutants from vehicle and factory emissions.

On Saturday, the air pollution in the city soared, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) briefly reaching an “unprecedented” level of over 1,000.

The reading of 1,067 between 8am and 9am was 71.1 times above the World Health Organisation standard.

‘Life-altering’ impact

The smog has reportedly affected millions, leaving them with symptoms such as cough, difficulties in breathing, eye irritation and headaches.

Arif Hussain, a human rights activist, says two of his children, aged between seven and 10, have developed skin conditions and are on medication to cope with the adverse effects of smog.

Similar complaints were made by Sufiyan Asif, a teenager, who says he and his younger brother have developed sore throat and eye irritation due to smog.

His family is staying indoors and keeping windows and doors shut to avoid exposure to smog.

Experts have raised alarm over the deteriorating air quality in the city, which they claim leads to life-altering problems like depression and impacts the growth of the children.

Renowned physician Dr Javed Akram agrees that smog is resulting in serious health issues among children and the elderly.

Choking in the city of gardens

Lahore was once known for its gardens. Now, its claim to fame is topping the pollution charts.

The causes of this are well-known and amply documented. The mushroom growth of housing societies is eating up green spaces in and around the city; industries and brick kilns whose emissions violate every environmental protection law; stubble burning and increasing numbers of vehicles on the roads, all contribute to the toxic air.

But the tragedy is that accurate data on these phenomena is found nowhere.

The government claims similar issues in neighbouring Indian Punjab also contribute to the choking air quality.

Punjab Environment Protection and Climate Change Department (EPCCD) Secretary Raja Jahangir Anwar says there are 4.5m motorcycles, 1.3m cars and trucks in Lahore.

In addition, there are 6,800 factories and 1,200 brick kilns operating in and around the city, and farmers are burning stubble in the adjoining Kasur, Sheikhupura, Nankana and Gujranwala districts, he tells Dawn, blaming their emissions for the hazardous air quality.

Successive governments have tried everything to counter smog — from spraying water on roads to artificial rain and, most recently, imposing a ‘green lockdown’.

However, in the absence of accurate data, these actions are based more on hunches than any goal-oriented strategy.

The first step towards fixing this issue is accurately reporting the air quality.

A report by IQAir in January stated that Lahore has 15 air quality monitors at various sites across the city, and only one installed at the US Consulate is government-owned.

Mr Anwar, the EPCCD secretary, claims his department has three functional air quality monitors in the city.

The Environment Protection Department publishes daily air quality reports on its website. This report, based on the data from the previous day, is of little use for people checking air quality to plan future activities.

The data about the total number of vehicles and their emission is also skewed.

The Punjab State of the Environment Report 2023 identifies transport as a major source of air pollution in Punjab.

This observation is based on a study conducted by the UN Food & Agricultural Organization in 2019. It concluded that the sector is responsible for 43pc of air pollution in Punjab.

The five-year-old study had put the number of registered vehicles in Punjab at 14.5m, which increased to 21m in 2021.

However, the exact number of vehicles plying on the city roads is still not known.

Further, the methodology to calculate vehicular emission ignores some related factors such as combustion, control technology, fuel type, operating conditions, equipment age, and maintenance.

‘Inadequate’ measures

Pakistan Air Quality Experts, a collective of leading environmentalists, researchers, doctors and scientists, says the government’s measures like ‘green lockdown’ are inadequate, and won’t have any considerable impact on air pollution.

Dawar Hameed Butt, a researcher with the group, tells Dawn the government banned rickshaws and heavy vehicles in some areas, but they are still operating in other localities. “How would it bring about any relief?”

He points out that due to gas shortages, people in and around Lahore use firewood for cooking and heating, while factories in northern Lahore burn tyres, raising PM2.5 levels.

He suggests closing down those factories for tangible relief.

The government is calling farmers “anti-state” for burning stubble but it hasn’t provided them with any technology to get rid of their residue, Mr Butt says.

He also suggests community-led efforts, including local clean-air initiatives, tree-plantation drives and youth awareness campaigns to combat smog.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024