ISLAMABAD: In a significant collaborative effort, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined forces with the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) to execute a week-long vehicular emission control and monitoring campaign.

Spanning from January 9 to January 17, 2024, this initiative aimed to address and mitigate the pressing issue of air pollution caused by vehicular emissions in the capital city.

The joint campaign underscored the commitment of both entities to proactively tackle environmental challenges and promote sustainable practices for a cleaner and healthier urban environment.

Headed by Pak-EPA, the basic objective of the survey was to ascertain the factual position of vehicular emissions during the dry spell of winter and their contribution to the formulation of smog in the current fog episode.

The environment watchdog noted that air pollution, a significant environmental issue, refers to the presence of harmful substances in the air that adversely affect human health, animals, and the overall ecosystem.

One major contributor to air pollution was vehicular emissions, which included pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, particulate matter, and soot carbon, which are emitted from diesel vehicles and contribute to air pollution and pose serious health risks, they said.

According to Article 11 of the Pak-EPA Act, 1997, “No person shall discharge or is allowed to discharge or emit any effluent, waste, air pollutant, or noise in any amount, concentration, or level that is in excess of the National Environmental Quality Standard (NEQS).”

The campaign was initiated under the direction of EPA’s Director General Farzana Altaf Shah, Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, and EPA’s Director (Lab/NEQS), Dr Zaigham Abbas.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2024