Punjab is once more in the grip of smog, with many of its cities reporting an average Air Quality Index (AQI) above 200—with capital Lahore soaring above 500, and even briefly touching 700—over the past two days.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency deems any value of the AQI over 150 as “unhealthy,” with values more than 300 considered “hazardous” to public health. Smog, a form of fog intensified by atmospheric pollutants, becomes visible when particle pollution, particularly PM2.5, exceeds 5 micrograms. In Lahore, per Swiss air quality monitoring organization IQAir, the PM2.5 value is currently over 300 times the annual air quality guidelines of the World Health Organization.
With the intensity of the smog mounting—and significantly earlier than previous years—the Punjab Environment Protection Department has issued a “smog alert” for the province, blaming the ingress of polluted air from neighboring India, where crop stubble burning is currently underway. The alert urged residents of Lahore, in particular, to take precautionary measures like restricting outdoor activities during high AQI levels; using masks; keeping children indoors; and avoiding traveling to “hot spot” areas. According to environmental experts, this isn’t enough.
Demanding the imposition of an “environmental emergency,” the environmentalists have urged the government to move past limited firefighting measures that do little to improve the AQI. Medical experts, meanwhile, have warned residents to beware nose, eye and throat infections amidst hazardous air quality levels. Beyond its advisory, however, the Punjab government’s response has proved little more than a farce. While Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb acknowledged there is no quick fix—she estimates 8-10 years of sustained efforts to reduce the pollutants that annually shroud Lahore and its surrounding regions—her touting of “raids” on polluting industries and action against inefficient vehicles are clearly yielding no results. At the same time, the provincial government is betraying its own apathy by organizing athletic festivals as the worst of the smog season peaks, perhaps forgetting the cricketers who vomited when forced to play in these hazardous conditions in the past.
There are reports the Punjab government is once again considering cloud seeding to force rain and dampen the pollutants suspended in the atmosphere. The expensive exercise is unsustainable and only delays the inevitable, especially in the absence of any data determining the exact reason for the recurrent disaster. As a stopgap, the government should consider 1-2 “closed” days weekly, which last year showed some effectiveness in tackling smog. Authorities have already shown a willingness to suspend daily life when facing protests from opposition parties; doing the same for public health is the least of expectations as people choke on the very air whose cleanliness Article 9A of the Constitution mandates is an entitlement of every citizen of Pakistan.