LAHORE: The Punjab Government and Environmental Protection Department (EPD) have failed to implement Punjab Smog Policy 2017 due to poor strategy, sluggishness and departmental politics. However, the intensity of smog in Punjab could not be reduced and increasing air pollution started increasing the diseases of ear, nose, throat and lungs.
It is pertinent to mention here that when smog first appeared in Lahore on November 2, 2016, environmentalists and various sections of civil society had expressed concern over the increase in air pollution and the matter was taken to the Lahore High Court (LHC).
However, in 2017, the LHC, while hearing a case on climate change, had sought a smog policy from the Punjab government and a draft of smog policy was submitted by the Punjab government to the Court.
Later, the Smog Commission was formed in 2018 to investigate the causes of smog and to suggest appropriate ways to deal with it and the commission had also submitted a report in this regard and various suggestions were made to overcome this problem and the authorities were urged to take immediate action on this issue.
Well-established sources in EPD informed this scribe that one of the major reasons for non-implementation of the policy was shortage of air quality monitoring stations in the province and delay in procurement.
It is also pertinent to mention here that under the policy, EPD was responsible to use satellite data obtained from various sources including space and upper atmosphere and to closely monitor stubble burning activities in Punjab as well as in the region and inform the concerned agencies.
The data was to be obtained by the EPD through air quality monitoring stations (AQMS) and the commission in its recommendations had asked the department to survey different parts of Punjab and set up 30 monitoring stations in Punjab.
“Environment Protection Department shall issue advisory to all concerned departments based on the Air Quality Index (AQI) for PM2.5 and other parameters. Primary and Secondary Health Care Departments shall issue health advisory and ensure its maximum dissemination including through such means as paper, electronic, and social media. Additional Inspector General of Traffic shall issue advisory on use of roads, especially highlighting the forecasted or prevailing visibility levels and their likely impact of safe use of roads”.
“If the situation so demands, masks shall be distributed at schools and selected public places in the most effected districts by respective Deputy Commissioners. Similarly, steel furnaces and other industrial units which are working without emission control equipment or are using substandard fuels shall be shut down by the Environmental Protection Agency with the support of respective Deputy Commissioner and District Police Officer,” policy stated.
According to sources, the commission recommended that the department had to install eight AQMS in Lahore, one in Sheikhupura, three in Faisalabad, three in Rawalpindi, two in Multan, two in Gujranwala, one in Sialkot, two in Bahawalpur and one in DG Khan, two in Sargodha and had to install five mobile AQMS.
“If we talk about Lahore only, four AQMSs have been installed so far, the procurement of which has been very controversial and cases against the corrupt officers involved in this procurement had been continued in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and now that this policy has been implemented under the Punjab Green Development Project (PGDP), the procurement of more stations is again delayed.
The data of the stations installed in Lahore is also not reliable so unless the department has accurate and correct data, it will be very difficult to implement the policy. That’s why the environment minister is blaming activities like barbecues for the increase in smog because when the data is not available, every action will be taken on speculation,” they said.
However, according to the policy the government had to introduce low-sulfur fuels, euro-II standards for vehicular emission, installation of vehicular pollution control devices, better traffic management, controlling burning of municipal waste and crop residue, creation of woodlands, greening of industrial processes and regional environmental agreements.
For all these activities, EPD had to coordinate with the concerned departments and take steps to reduce the intensity of smog including air pollution.
Sources revealed that all activities would have been possible if the policy had been notified.
“The draft of policy is available on the EPD’s website, but the policy has not yet been notified or gazette,” they said.
However, under the anti-smog campaign, the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) had issued a notification under which from December 23, 2021, any public transport which does not obtain fitness certificate from VICS will not be able to enter Lahore and for the next three months from 22nd December 2021 to 22nd March 2022 manual inspection of vehicles will be closed all over Punjab.
The notification further stated that all government vehicles will be able to obtain fitness certificates from VICS and the traffic police will be authorized to confiscate the papers of all vehicles that appear on the roads without an authentic fitness certificate.
However, the confiscated documents of government vehicles will remain in the custody of the competent authority till the attainment of an authentic fitness certificate and after obtaining the fitness certificate, the confiscated documents will be handed over to the secretary of the concerned department.
Speaking over the issue, the Relief Commissioner PDMA Babar Hayat Tarar informed that all the measures were taken in view of the intensity of smog in the city and to reduce air pollution and fitness certificates were issued in the context of long-term smog control measures.
The Relief Commissioner further informed that more than 2,970 FIRs have been registered in Punjab between October 1 and December 18 and imposed heavy fines on industrial emissions, stubble burning and traffic violations to deal with the smog problem.
The director general WWF and environmentalist Hamad Naqi informed Pakistan Today that the transport sector is responsible for 50 percent of the deterioration of air quality.
“One of the major issues in the transport sector is fuel quality. We do not have the international standard for sulfur content in diesel nor the quality of refining petrol. The government had given them incentives in this regard but it could not be implemented. The second major issue is two-stroke rickshaws, large loaders and wagons”.
“On the one hand the quality of fuel is not good and on the other hand these vehicles are neither properly tuned nor use good quality fuel. Similarly, another factor in air pollution is the cottage industry or the furnaces or where fuel is used in recycling. Such industries meet the fuel requirement by burning tires instead of using electricity or oil. And if you look, there are a lot of such industries,” he said.
Naqi lamented, he hoped the current government would address the issue in the long run and holistically, but that ad hoc measures were still being brought in regarding air pollution.
“Many kilns have not yet been converted to Zigzag technology, while the government claims that all kilns have been converted to Zigzag. Ten vehicle challans, fifty fines will not do anything. We proposed privatizing vehicle fitness and giving this task to the companies like Shell, Total and Caltex”.
“The reason for this proposal was that these companies are international and will not allow their reputation to deteriorate in the name of fitness. But unfortunately this did not happen and in Pakistan the verification of vehicles is done without vehicle inspection and it gets the certificate. Government measures are not the solution to these problems. At present, air pollution has reached dangerous levels and must be taken seriously,” he concluded.
When EPD spokesperson Amir Farooq was asked why the smog policy could not be implemented, he said that there was no delay in the implementation of the policy and short term implementation was being done by various departments.
When asked if the Smog Policy 2017 has been notified, Farooq was confused and said that he was looking at a copy of the notification but did not know whether it had been approved by the Environmental Protection Council.
“I think I saw the notification but I’m not sure. Action is being taken by the government. All brick kilns have been converted to zig-zag technology,” he said.
Farooq blames the public for the air pollution and says that people are interested in breaking the law.
“People have no role to play in preventing air pollution and they are not doing their part. We are conducting a campaign with the traffic police. Factories that are committing smog in urban areas are also being fined and other means are also being used to control pollution,” he maintained.
When asked why the shortage of AQMS has not been met yet and whether the readings given by EPD about air quality index are reliable, Farooq replied that there are sufficient stations in Lahore.
“I think there are five or six stations installed in Lahore. Our indexes are in line with international standards and the readings of other private instruments are not reliable at all,” he concluded.
