THE weather is getting cooler and so the working day now begins — as it does for most construction workers — at 7am, amid a grey haze that seems to hang all over the city. At the site of the Chaubacha Underpass along the Canal Bank, nearly 1,000 workers take up positions along what is said to be the longest and deepest underpass in the city. The engines of heavy machines rev into life and as digging resumes, a cloud of dust so thick you can’t see through it, rises into the air.

Till a week ago, inhaling the dust was only a part of life for these workers, Haider Abbas, one of the workers, says, but recently it has become harder to breathe. Abbas, who is from Khanewal and has been working on the Habib Construction Services site for almost a year, explains that protective gear is available for workers. But not a single worker at the site of construction is wearing a protective mask.

Past the mountains of rubble zoom heavy and light vehicles kicking up clouds of smoke and dust. Abbas blames his deteriorating health on the traffic. He realises that the grey, overcast sky does not hold fog or clouds, yet argues that it’s not the dust rising from construction that is causing it but the heavy traffic. He is aware of the irony in constructing an underpass to create room for even more traffic but finds solace in that he doesn’t have to live here. “The quality of air in Khanewal is far better,” he explains.

Sitting in a container that houses the construction site’s medical facilities, Muhammad Amir, the medical rep, says he receives up to 25 cases of chest infections each month, but stresses that it is not because of the smog. Questioned why the workers weren’t wearing masks, he shrugs: “They have the masks, they just don’t want to wear them.”

If you go further down the road from here and then take a left onto Ring Road, you’ll arrive at Mehmood Booti and Lakhodair where, apart from Lahore’s landfill, are several steel mills that, on a regular day, emit thick black smoke. These mills, most of which are accused of burning rubber tyres, were recently sealed under the Punjab government’s Policy on Controlling Smog 2017.

The Environment Protection Department (EPD) issued a press statement recently proudly announcing that it had sealed 170 steel mills in the province, 130 of which were in Lahore alone. Yet according to a report in Duniya newspaper on Thursday, the factories at Daroghawala, Mehmood Booti and Lakhodair have begun operating during the night so as to avoid punitive action. The report claims that fresh consignments of fuel arrived at these factories at around 5am.

The fact of the matter is that industries here are not regulated, says Manzoor Hussain of the Punjab Urban Resource Centre. In fact, most factories in the city are located in congested residential areas. These factory units continue to burn bituminous coal, tyres, toxic plastics and solid waste as cheap fuel. Unfortunately, most of the mill owners are powerful industrialists who know powerful people, he says, so the EPD cannot make them comply with any directions, the push will have to come from the communities themselves.

Several activist circles and concerned citizens are now talking about holding the EPD responsible for not taking timely action and allowing thick hazardous smog to blanket the city in October for the second consecutive year. Last year, Advocate Sheraz Zaka filed a petition in the Lahore High Court demanding action against polluters.

“Rampant tree felling in and around the city, unregulated factories, the complete absence of political will to tackle pollution and rampant corruption in the EPD are responsible for what’s happening,” he says. When the government finally released a policy to tackle smog in October — after this year’s smog had settled in — it was because of the pressure placed on it by the Lahore High Court, he adds.

The 36-year-old lawyer questions the kind of city the provincial government wants to build and whether it will be considered habitable for children and the generations to come. “Do they not realise what’s at stake?” he asks.

At the other end of the city is a group of activists discussing when to announce a protest against what they believe is the government’s apathetic attitude towards curbing pollution. The issue is deeply connected to the major questions of the day: transport, equal development, housing and climate change, all of which need to be addressed in ecologically sustainable and equitable ways, says Tabassum, one of the activists. “It comes down to a calculation of who is benefiting and who is paying the consequences of the types of ‘development’ in our community,” she asserts. “Those who benefit at the expense of public health, the climate, public space and transport must be held responsible.”

Many of these activists join another meeting called at a local bookshop on Friday where information was shared regarding the smog. “We need to make a noise but also educate ourselves,” says Aysha Raja. The environmental activist believes that combating pollution will require a change in the consumption-oriented lifestyle of the elite.

She deplores the lack of equipment available to the EPD, and talks about the need to install air-monitoring units. But above that, she stresses upon the need for the public to act as a pressure group to get the authorities to do their job, suggesting that schools could install air-quality meters that students could monitor and learn about air pollution.

“Look around,” Advocate Zaka points out, “Almost everyone walking or driving bikes is wearing a mask…”

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2017