LAHORE: A session titled “How does smog affect your health?” at the CDPR (Consortium for Development Policy Research) on Wednesday discussed aspects of smog.

Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht said smog was an issue of air quality and it persisted all year round. “But we must figure out where it is coming from, and how much of it is coming from the transport sector,” he said. He said that the air visual measurements had become very popular but the government also had excellent machines that were capable of giving accurate readings.

“In the case of Air Visual, different areas give different concentrations, so it is important to give a rolling average of air quality. The diffusion average is what should be confirmed.” He said it was also difficult to pinpoint the sources.

“We must investigate and research into different measurements in the peripheries of Lahore, etc, but we do know the biggest culprit is traffic.”

He also said that there was a lot of trans-boundary pollution coming from India and wondered if there could be talks with the Indian government regarding this problem. He said that there must be a kind of green finance.

“A lot of things such as improving standardization of fuel and car engines, could have a huge impact on the petrol prices and we must see the economic aspects of that,” he said. A Euro 6 engine would lessen fuel emissions by quite a lot – what three cars emit now would be emitted by about a 100 cars if shifted to Euro 6 but this too was an expensive procedure.

Lawyer Sara Hayat differed with the government narrative about the pollution coming from India. She said the winter wind was mainly westerly in Lahore. She said that while wind direction did change and some of the pollution did come from India, such as last week during an especially bad spell, this was not the norm.

Geriatrician and palliative care specialist Dr Zulfiqar Mir showed a couple of documentaries about how toxic air emissions affect health, including child health.

He said that particulate matter especially PM2.5 was what caused eventual organ failure or dysfunction, as the particles - 25 times smaller than a human hair - were carried into the blood stream to various organs. This was also therefore dangerous for pregnant women and fetuses would be directly transmitted with PM2.5. Illnesses such as pulmonary diseases, respiratory problems, strokes, and pneumonia were also a result of this air pollution.

Dr Agha Ali Akram from LUMS said section 144 crackdowns, and the forcible conversions to zig-zag kilns were not going to be beneficial in the long run. The latter for instance could end up being discriminatory in a way, as what one kiln endured the others may not. The government should instead have caps, which could allow certain emissions to an extent but not after that – or taxes or incentives.

Environment Protection Department’s Ali Ijaz, Urban Unit’s Khalid Sheikh and Transport Secretary Asad Rehman Gilani briefed about measures such vehicular inspection, AQI App and stoppage of burning of materials like plastic, rubber and coal to produce fuels.

Activist Rafay Alam said that the government should focus on the low grade fuel emissions – a major source of pollution.

“The fuel and energy issue is a federal issue, including the high content of sulphur in diesel and the sulphurization of coal,” he said. “The rest of the world is moving on towards other kinds of policies but we are still using the command and control approach.”

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2019