AS the smog persists over Punjab and parts of KP, plunging cities like Lahore and Peshawar into a dark and depressive atmosphere, the sheer helplessness of the authorities as well as the citizens is striking. Aside from occasional remarks that the smog is ‘coming from across the border’, the response from the authorities thus far has been stasis. This is not entirely surprising for a number of reasons. First amongst these is that the authorities have long sunk into a mindset that their only job is to undertake glitzy, high-visibility, infrastructure projects. Subjects like creating and enforcing emissions standards for industry and road vehicles or monitoring air quality, to take two examples, simply do not register on their radar as serious responsibilities. With such a mindset, it is no surprise that they shrug off a phenomenon like the smog as somebody else’s problem. It may be true that much of the smog is coming from across the border, but that does not mean it is not a problem for Lahore or Peshawar or the many other towns and cities in between.

Across the border, officials are at least meeting and trying to come up with a robust action plan to mitigate the impact of the smog. Schools have been shut, cars are being discouraged through a hike in parking fees as well as the ‘odd even’ system where cars with even and odd registration numbers are allowed on the streets on alternate days. A plan is being considered to aerially spray Delhi with water, though it might be far-fetched to think of this as a solution. Where are the authorities of the Punjab and KP provincial governments in all this? Having had the same experience last year, was an effort made to try and reduce the volume of emissions in their own jurisdiction?

The smog may well be coming largely from across the border, but it is wrong to say that it is entirely the result of crop burning there. The large, informal steel smelters of Badami Bagh in Lahore make their own contributions to emissions, as well as the many clusters of informal industry that operate almost entirely out of the reach of the state. The mindsets of those running the provincial governments need to change urgently about the nature of the deliverables of government. Beyond high-visibility projects, if appropriate attention is not given to issues like clear air quality, sewage treatment, clean drinking water, and the many other ‘soft’ deliverables of governance, the consequences of human activity like the uncontrolled spread of industry with no regard for environmental impact, or the mushroom growth of vehicular traffic with no real enforcement of emissions rules, will always return with a vengeance to neutralise whatever gains the government can boast of otherwise.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2017