Smog is a huge challange for pakistan. Province of punjab and lahore city is most affected by it. Smog is the mixture of fog and smoke that arises from waste materials which are being burned by people and it arises because of smokes of vehicles, burning of agriculture wastes and many more.
Therefore, it is creating numerous issues for the citizens. Residents of punjab are dying on daily basis due to smog challenges.
Air pollution is a major public health problem across Pakistan, where an estimated 128,000 people die annually from air pollution-related illnesses, according to the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution.
But researchers say the government has downplayed the severity of the problem for years, produced unreliable data and sought to pass blame to neighboring India. Indeed, the environmental protection department of Punjab, the province surrounding Lahore, has not updated its air quality level for several weeks on its website, reporting it at 166 – a level of airborne fine particulate matter that the U.S. EPA considers to be “unhealthy” but which the Pakistani government says is “satisfactory.”
Some of the sources for this smog include vehicular pollution with very poor fuel quality being used along with lack of pollution control technologies in our vehicles, industrial pollution, burning of municipal and even industrial waste and brick kilns which again use dirty fuel such as rubber tyres,” says Khalid who also heads the Environment and Climate Change Department at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad.
Sectoral Emission Inventory for Punjab shows that the major portion of air pollution emissions are coming from the transport sector and it holds 43pc share in all sectors (power, industry, transport, and crop burning residue). The second major pollutant is industry whose share is 25pc while the third major pollutant is agriculture which accounts for 20pc. Collectively, the main sectors creating air pollutants and emissions are power, industry and transport which have 80pc contribution to emissions and pollution, from which Punjab’s photochemical smog conditions arise.
Faris Khaliq
Turbat, kech
