The air gets toxic as soon as the season of smog sets in November. When it drizzles, it purifies the air. The air of the cities, most of them in Punjab, has, however, still higher smog levels. When nature (read rain) fails to act against smog, the government must wake up to the situation as the smog levels are going to worsen in the days to come. According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, emissions from vehicles and kilns and smoke billowing from stubble burning are the major contributors to the smog situation. As per a report published in local daily, vehicular emission is the top polluter with 43 per cent, kilns\u2019 emission 25 per cent and stubble burning also 25 per cent. For the last five years, Punjab areas have been deprived of charming dusk hours from November to march as every day the layers of smog descend upon cities and plains preventing sunshine reaching the earth. The fact, however, is that the particulars causing smog are only more visible in the cold weather making the air grey and thickening dust particles otherwise, they are present throughout the year.
\nWhen it comes to the Punjab government, it has taken visible actions against kiln polluters and the best bet is that all kilns are converted to Zig Zag Technology. Other polluters, however, remain at work uninterrupted. In 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a set of measures to tackle smog and air pollution. Among the concrete measures to stem the tide of smog, in particular, and air pollution, in general, in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the prime minister announced import of the oil only meeting European Union\u2019s Euro four emission levels, while within a year Euro five emission oil will be the standard oil in the country. The other step was to convert local oil refineries in three years to upgraded refinery plants to produce Euro four and five oil. Electric vehicles were another thing on the agenda. Imported machinery was to be provided to farmers to deal with rice stubbles to discourage burning them; brick kiln owners were to be assisted to turn to zigzag technology, and so on. Only last year, the government had to close schools in Lahore on two occasions to beat the intensity of the staggering pollution levels. The government must dust off its old plans and implement in letter and spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The air gets toxic as soon as the season of smog sets in November. When it drizzles, it purifies the air. The air of the cities, most of them in Punjab, has, however, still higher smog levels. When nature (read rain) fails to act against smog, the government must wake up to the situation as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-161596","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial"},"yoast_head":"\n