Smoke and smog

While Lahore and other cities in Punjab have continued to struggle against the smog, the state seems more or less indifferent to the situation – which includes a dramatic increase in respiratory illness due to the extremely poor air quality, which in Lahore has on numerous occasions topped world cities in terms of the worst air quality available to its people. The result of low gas supply and the continued pollution caused by vehicles which emit toxic fumes without being checked as well as the emissions from brick kilns and factories means that our cities continue to become more and more polluted and could well remain in a stable position at the top of the list of the world's most polluted cities. The poor of course suffer worse, as they do in every disaster, with no access to the air purifiers that the rich are able to purchase or even to proper shelter which can protect them to some degree against the smog.

In this situation, while the court hears a case against the smog in Lahore, and the impact on people, including a case brought by three teenage girls two years ago, the government's attitude is simply unacceptable. What can be achieved when the Provincial Disaster Management Authority states that the increase in barbecued and grilled food in the winter is the cause of the smog that has left people suffering severe infection and allergies? Unless the government takes a far more serious approach to the entire problem, the smog will continue and people will suffer as they have done for years. The policies suggested have not been put in place and there is no real indication that efforts have been made to stop the burning of stubble in fields or to ensure that brick kilns are built on a zigzag basis. Even in this matter, there is some dispute among experts on whether brick kilns built in this fashion truly reduce the release of fumes which poison the air.But there is one reality that almost every citizen in Lahore will agree on. We are breathing in poison. People are already dependent for clean water and gas on their own resources, buying bottles of water if they can afford to do so, using filtered water if they can manage it, and purchasing gas cylinders when this is feasible. Now they must also purchase air purifiers if they are among the more wealthy in the city, and find ways to keep themselves safe from the toxins in the air.