LAHORE: Visitors to four major shrines in the city have been found as one of the main sources of environmental pollution, particularly unmanaged solid waste, in a study recently conducted by a religious and economic scholar.

The study conducted by Dr Hussain Mohi-ud-Din, Deputy Chairman of Board of Governors of the Minhaj University revealed that visitors to the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hajveri better known as Data Ganj Bakhsh (RA) and a couple of others are producing 27,000 tonnes of solid waste per annum most of which either remains unmanaged or is dumped at a landfill site on the city outskirts.

This garbage, it says, generates 4.3 million cubic feet landfill gas (containing almost equal portions of methane and carbon dioxide gases) which is equal to the carbon dioxide generated by burning 136.88 million gallons of diesel.

Quoting data from the Auqaf Department, it says 30,000 to 40,000 people from the country and abroad visit Hazrat Ali Hajveri’s shrine daily and the number grows to 60,000 to 70,000 on Thursdays, while at least one million come during three-day Urs of the saint. For them, 1.93 thousand tonnes of food is prepared, mostly by the contractors located in one km radius of the shrine, and distributed.

Such a large number of visitors and the commercial activity to cater to their needs stresses availability of and generation for more resources like water, energy, transport, residential accommodation, etc. which leads to environmental degradation as in various world studies transport has been found responsible for 28.2 per cent, power generation 26.9 per cent, residential & commercial activities 12.3 per cent share in emission of greenhouse gas in the year 2018.

Recognising the role of tourism in boosting the economy, creating new jobs and promoting culture, the study however points out that unlike other countries, the measures and arrangements put in place to manage the issues of pollution caused by the massive arrival of devotees in Lahore are poor.

It suggests that the Auqaf Department should at least commission a compost bioreactor to properly handle the solid waste, 90 per cent of which comprises organic matter, and turn it into fertiliser instead of dumping it at the landfill site, which is leading to air pollution and degradation of the soil.

The compost plant, it says, will cost around Rs12.8 million minus taxes and duties and the cost can be met from Auqaf resources as the department’s annual income from just Lahore shrines is more than Rs300 million per annum.

The operational cost of the plant will be around Rs2.5 million, while the department already has the required land capacity for it. The value of the 13,000 tonnes of fertiliser to be produced by the compost plant in a year will be around Rs130 million if sold at current market rate of Rs10,000 per ton.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2021