Citizens face nuisance as smog blankets Multan

MULTAN: The citizens experienced difficulties as smog blanketed the city after adopting all precautionary measures of closure of brick kilns and burning of stubble on Monday.

Traffic continued in the city but National Highway was badly interrupted by thick smog. Motorway police spokesperson Gulzar Ahmed said that no road blockade or traffic interruption had been reported on the motorway because of visibility, however, the motorway police would issue the traffic schedule after increase in smog level. The Metrology Department has predicted mainly cold and dry weather in most parts of the country. The MET officials said the department had recorded visibility at 800 meters on the roads and the same conditions would prevail in the next three days. Environment Protection Department deputy director M Zafar said the divisional administration had taken all possible measures, which dropped the smog intensity from 120 to 65, a couple of days ago. He said the department teams would ensure closure of traditional brick kilns. “More than 2,500 traditional brick kilns are operating in Multan while 2,000 are operational across south Punjab. The department has taken preemptive measures to control air pollution and smog,” he added. The government has also ordered that all brick kilns should be converted to environment-friendly ‘zig-zag’ technology but no deadline has been set for the conversion, he said. Meanwhile, the Punjab Agriculture Department officials have said that the department has launched massive crackdown on burning paddy roots in open fields, which is the key factor of enhancing smog. The department has booked more than 200 violators across Punjab. The provincial government has imposed Section 144 across Punjab and ban stubble burning across the province.