Recently, the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Coordination held a hearing on the issue of smog and the reasons behind the government’s failure to tackle the problem which is worsening every passing day. During the session, senior bureaucrats from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination (MoCC&EC) briefed the forum on the factors contributing to air pollution in various cities in Punjab. According to the briefing of the concerned ministry, industrial contributions to pollution have significantly decreased, while local pollutants such as transport, fugitive dust, and uncontrollable dry sweeping still contribute to environmental degradation. As said, a significant portion of pollution is due to traffic pollution and highlighted weaknesses in watch and ward, work prosecution, collaboration, admins’ operations, and monitoring. The officials presented their legal and institutional framework for smog prevention and control. The Senate body directed the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination to work out a better strategy to curb smog as the environmental pollution in the major cities of the country was lingering despite all policy and regulatory efforts. According to government executives, their forward strategy involves strengthening field officers’ presence, drone surveillance, improved and timely reporting, and daily debriefing sessions to cure the ever-biting ailment.
The Smog has shaped a grave environmental challenge for the government and the masses as the poisonous smoky gases have covered almost one-third of Punjab’s landmass. Although smog has now become an annual phenomenon yet the local governments and provincial administration paid no heed to that problem at the early stage, until the Lahore High Court (LHC) took up the case and issued orders for the closure of schools and offices by putting forth a plan to curb the hazardous polluted air in densely populated areas. Over the past two months, government leaders implemented various strategies including school/college closures, workday off, imposition of smart lockdown in certain areas, enforcing the ban on smoke-emitting vehicles, industries, and unethical disposal of waste. However, no recipe could produce the required result and Lahore is still on the list of top polluted cities in the world, several cities and towns are still embattled with dense smog. Polluted air causes serious diseases in the public and prevents the functioning of routine citizenry life in Central and Southern Punjab. Meanwhile, the idea of pouring artificial rain and providing 10000 electric bikes to the public could not work, and all tall claims, cosmetic measures, and politically motivated strategies failed in achieving a single-point agenda of smog prevention.
Historically, nothing is impossible and no problem is unresolvable in this universe, however, all difficult tasks and extraordinary issues require foreknowledge/ forecast, timely preparation by the administrator, public-private teamwork, and cooperation from the masses that all disappeared throughout our national history. Air pollution is an environmental issue caused by the release of pollutants particularly smoke from vehicles and factories into the atmosphere that continues throughout the year but in extreme cold weather, it shapes into smog and becomes a serious health and safety hazard for the masses. Anti-pollution campaigns of the relevant departments such as Police crackdown against vehicles, and administration actions against factories and corporate giants must continue throughout the year while strict supervision by the provincial and federal ministries remain in place so the situation cannot become so dire and the wheel of life could not stop anywhere in the country.
As a nation, we do not learn to carry forward our national agenda persistently throughout the year. Unfortunately, our nationalism stirs up on the 14th of August and 23rd of March, we remember Quaid’s quotes on the 25th of December, and our high-ups repeat their credos only on concerned days and keep them aside until the next time. The same is the case with the issue of Smog which comes every year in winter, the rulers and the public are well versed in it. But, government leaders and relevant national institutions do not move to perform their duties until and unless a catastrophe occurs and public life comes to a halt. During the Senate Committee hearing, the relevant bureaucrats successfully lured the lawmakers into the future anti-smog plan while eluding accountability for their failure in forehand prevention of the problem. Awfully, such irresponsibility, opportunist behaviour, and ad-hocism are the real reasons behind the degradation of our nation over the past seven decades of independence otherwise Pakistan owes no scarcity of resources, minerals and deposits.
