Smog city

Every November and December, thick fog descends upon Lahore, blocking out the winter sunshine, closing off the Motorway after dusk and preventing flights from landing at night. The problem has grown worse over the last five years due to the high levels of pollution and poor air quality in the city, created by increasing vehicular and industrial emissions.

Even during the summer months, there is now a permanent haze hanging over the city that is only relieved when it rains and pollution is washed away for a short while. Air pollution is an issue that needs to be urgently addressed as Lahore is now considered among the most polluted cities in Asia. In the winter months, with delayed rainfall, the cold and continuously dry conditions concentrate all the pollutants in the lower levels of the atmosphere, causing the smog to spread all over Punjab. The foggy conditions also lower the daytime temperatures since there is little sunshine to warm up the day.

According to Dr Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhry, national climate change expert and former DG of Pakistan’s Meteorological Department, “The main source of the pollutants in our lower atmosphere is Eastern Punjab where all the coal based industries are centered (across the border in India).

Of course, we have added our share of the pollutants as well from factory and car emissions.” In places near irrigation canals, rice paddies and rivers where there is more moisture available, the fog gets even thicker. The smog only gets cleared when it rains, washing away the lower layers of the atmosphere where all the harmful gases and other pollutants are trapped near the ground.

Mian Muhammad Dawood Mehmood

Wah Cantt