People of Lahore: Declaring ‘war’ against smog becomes essential: minister

LAHORE: Punjab Senior Minister Marium Aurangzeb said on Friday that declaring war against smog by the people of Lahore has become essential. However, individual and collective efforts will take between 8-10 years to eliminate smog.

She was speaking at a press conference to highlight the measures taken by the government under the Smog Action Plan.

She informed the media that there are certain hotspots in Lahore where a cloud of methane looms over the residents and a heat island effect is present beneath their feet. Out of 45,000 motorcycles in Lahore, 1,800 are emitting smoke, alongside 100,000 vehicles including two- and three-wheelers, 1,200 kilns, 60,800 industrial units and cooking stoves are contributing to pollution and heat. “Lahore experiences unhealthy air quality for 275 days of the year, with temperatures rising by 2.3 degrees Celsius. It has become essential for the people of Lahore to declare a war against smog,” she added.

The minister clarified that only 30% of smog in Lahore comes from India via air, while the remaining 70% is self-created.

She mentioned that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has been consistently taking significant steps under a multi-sectoral mitigation action plan to reduce smog for the past six months. The government has completed two phases of regulation and implementation awareness for smog reduction and is now entering the third phase, with data shared with the public.

All kilns across Punjab were checked; instead of shutting them down, 700 in the province and 212 in Lahore were demolished. Currently, all kilns are operating on a zig-zag technology, with zero tolerance in this regard. Marium Aurangzeb stated that she oversaw the demolition of kilns owned by influential individuals.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024