‘Govt, civil society should take steps to control pollution’

LAHORE

Environmental pollution in Lahore and surrounding areas is mainly due to carbon emission from vehicles and population growth which have causes many problems while the government has failed to resolve the issue.

Both the government and civil society should take measures to control the pollution.

These views were expressed by the panellists in Jang Economic Session titled "Climate Change, Environmental Pollution – Impact on Socioeconomic Life," here on Friday.

The participants were Ajmal Shad, Naseem-ur-Rehman, Mumtaz Hussain, Anwar-ul-Haq, Dr Aysha Azam and Sohial Lasahri while the event was hosted by Sikandar Lodhi.

Ajmal Shad said that global climate change was altering the environment. He said weather pattern changed every year in November, December, April and May. But this year due to change in climate, pollution is in the atmosphere which is not getting clear due to delay in rains. He said this phenomena also occurred in Delhi, Beijing besides Lahore where smog prevailed and reached its highest level two days ago.

However, situation is gradually improving. He hoped that smog would reduce in next couple of days. He suggested taking precautionary measures to avoid weather intensity.

Naseem-ur-Rehman said that ongoing smog was due to emissions of gases besides protests which caused traffic jams.

He said that in the existing weather situation, chances of acid rains had increased. He suggested taking precautionary measures. He called for encouraging use of mask and creating awareness about it among the public. He said effective tree plantation campaigns were useful in reducing pollution.

Mumtaz Hussain said that emissions of carbon and other gases by vehicles were the major source of pollution, besides burning of waste material and emissions from oil refineries.

He said environmental pollution was adversely affecting every segment of life. He said the public must avoid going outside unnecessarily while pregnant women should adopt special precautions.

Anwar-ul-Haq said that globally waste was being utilised to reduce its impact on the environment while in Pakistan waste management did not exist. He called for improving waste management system. He said change in public attitude was also required to reduce pollution.

Dr Aysha Azam said that smog was causing increase in kidney, liver and pulmonary diseases and especially affecting pregnant women due to which child mortality rate was on the rise.

She said headache and other health issues were also growing due to smog while precautionary measures were the best solution to it.

Sohial Lasahri said that growing traffic pressure was also causing increase in the environment pollution.

He said that according to WHO, 92 percent world population was at the risk of polluted air due to which the death rate had increased to 6 million annually.

He said global environmental pollution had increased by 8 percent from 2008 to 2013. He said the public should also play their role to keep the environment and surroundings clean.