Poison in the air

Poisonous smog has been polluting the environment of major cities like Lahore for many years. Instead of any improvement pollution is more acute, threatening the lives and health of citizens especially our children. Other than statements from the executive, civil administration and heads of various housing societies, no concrete steps have been taken except issuing warning to citizens when the hazardous level crosses critical level. Green agriculture belts around the periphery of every city have been converted to concrete jungles of welfare housing societies. Thousands of trees have been cut by the powerful land mafia and this criminal activity continues even today. Pakistan continues to import substandard petroleum which meets Euro 2 specifications while world has adopted Euro-5 and Euro-6 standards. Corrupt motor vehicle Inspectors are another problem. Amenity plots continue to be illegally converted for commercial purposes, not just in Karachi, but also in Islamabad, Lahore, Hyderabad etc.

Trees continue to be cut on some pretext or another. Brick kilns located near all cities continue to emit poison and other than rhetoric by city and provincial administrations for the past few years, no concrete steps have been taken to enforce the adoption of technology to reduce hazardous poisonous emissions. Farmers continue to burn crops, a practice that has been in vogue in both India and Pakistan, which only adds to pollution. The state cannot – and should not – allow the greed of the corrupt to prevail while hundreds of thousands of citizens fall prey to air pollution for which we cannot blame India alone.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore