THAT time of year is upon us again when Punjab’s cities start to choke under a grey pall. The minarets of Lahore’s Badshahi Mosque, barely visible through the thick haze in recent days, have sadly come to symbolise the province’s environmental neglect. Lahore recently ranked as the world’s most polluted city, with the Air Quality Index hitting 412 — a level hazardous to human health. Other cities such as Faisalabad and Gujranwala recorded similar levels. The air in much of central Punjab is now unsafe to breathe. The Punjab government has responded in familiar fashion with short-term measures: revising school timings, issuing health advisories, deploying ‘anti-smog guns’ and warning farmers against crop-residue burning. While these steps may marginally reduce exposure, they do little to address the root causes. Each winter, the same cycle is repeated — toxic air, public outrage, administrative meetings and temporary curbs — only for the smog to return the following year with greater intensity. The failure to implement long-term solutions has turned smog season into a recurring health crisis. Punjab’s air pollution stems from multiple, well-documented sources: vehicular emissions, unregulated industries, brick kilns, construction dust and stubble burning. Yet enforcement is weak. Many kilns continue to operate on outdated technology; industrial plants flout emission standards with impunity; and traffic continues to grow without serious investment in public transport or cleaner fuel standards. The absence of a coherent, year-round air-quality management plan has allowed a seasonal problem to evolve into a structural one. Moreover, coordination with the federal environment ministry remains poor, and cross-border mechanisms to monitor regional air flow and pollution drift have not materialised.

What Punjab needs is not more ad hoc bans but a sustained clean-air strategy. This should include strict emissions enforcement, incentives for industries and brick kilns to shift to cleaner technologies, and greater public investment in mass transit. Urban planning must prioritise green buffers and regulate construction dust. Schools and workplaces should be equipped with air-quality monitors and early-warning systems. Crucially, environmental governance must be depoliticised. The fight for clean air is a public health priority. Every breath taken in Lahore today is a reminder of years of complacency. Unless the state treats this as an environmental emergency requiring structural reform, Punjab’s children will continue to grow up under a sky that suffocates.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2025