Pakistan’s Punjab province has finally launched a comprehensive plan to reduce air pollution.
In response to the alarming air quality crisis in Pakistan’s most populated province, the provincial government led by Maryam Nawaz Sharif has unveiled a 10-year plan.to combat the region's deadly smog.
The government of Punjab introduced Punjab’s first-ever comprehensive 10-year policy to tackle smog and enhance environmental protection.
Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a post on X (former Twitter) that the 10-year policy will help to reduce emissions from various sectors in a phased manner.
As per the new measures, the nation’s first vehicle certification scheme, fuel quality checks and distribution of new farming machinery to prevent crop residue burning will be introduced.
To note, on Wednesday morning, Swiss monitor IQAir recorded an air quality index of 447 in Lahore, well beyond the level of 50 which is considered as safest.
Punjab was the most polluted in the world for most of November, which prompted the local administration to take several actions, including closing schools and banning wedding functions from November till January.
“This is nothing new and a similar plan was presented last year as well,” said Dawar Butt, co-director at the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative.
Butt added, “There are no benchmarks and no costing has been done on how to achieve this.”
For the unversed, since the grey smog covered Punjab more than 900 people were admitted to the hospital in a single day in Punjab’s capital Lahore.
