5-pronged policy being pursued to avoid smog

Islamabad : The government is pursuing a five-pronged policy to prevent smog in the air during the months of October and November especially in Lahore, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi.

According to the working papers prepared by the climate change ministry and the ministry of science and technology, the policy is revolving around massive plantation campaigns and dealing with basic issues causing smog in Pakistan for the last many years like vehicular traffic, stubble burning, industrial emission, and thermal power plants.

The statistics showed that vehicular emission is responsible for 43 per cent of smog in the air, stubble burning 20 per cent, industrial emissions 25 per cent, and thermal power plants 12 per cent.

As part of the efforts to reduce industrial emission, almost seventy percent of brick kilns in Lahore have been converted into zigzag technology and the remaining that failed to adopt this technology have been closed for an indefinite period.

The campaigns are underway to grow Miyawaki forests all over the Punjab province as trees help reduce almost fifty per cent of smog from the air.

The proposal of installing smog-free towers in Lahore and other cities is also being discussed and evaluated and the government wants to get the private sector involved in this process.

The Smog-Free Towers suck in polluted air and filter it. The pollution is trapped inside the filters and the clean air is then released into the atmosphere through the four vents present on the sides of the towers. The collected soot is later used for the creation of diamonds.

The spokesperson of the climate change ministry said the government is not interested in the option of artificial rain because it is not supposed to control smog in the air due to its massive cost.

He said the project of ‘Happy Seeders’ would continue as this technology could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 78 per cent.

“We are pursuing a policy that would not only help increase forest cover but also deal with the issues causing smog in the air,” he said.