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Dawn Editorial of The Day-7

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13 views

Dawn Editorial of The Day-7

Very good and very interesting csks xmz mz xmz xmx xmxmc. Cncmzmmx xnx x z mz z

Uploaded by

Neha Saeed
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Smog hazard

Editorial Published November 5, 2024

THE Punjab government would be keen to forget its first year of treating smog as ‘a year-round epidemic’
instead of a seasonal issue. The policy shift, announced in July this year, has so far failed to yield the
desired results. Indeed, the air quality in Lahore is now worse than it has ever been, with the Air Quality
Index exceeding 1,000 on Sunday for the first time ever. Children have been told to stay at home this
week as primary schools up to Grade 5 have been shut by the provincial government due to the smog
hazard. The polluted air, which carries hazardous chemicals many times over the standards set by the
World Health Organisation, can cause a host of respiratory diseases, as well as strokes, heart disease and
lung cancer. Children are particularly at risk because of their underdeveloped respiratory systems and
propensity to breathe more rapidly, which causes them to inhale more pollutants relative to their size
than adults.

Of course, combating smog was never going to be easy, no matter how keenly the Punjab chief minister
wanted to see it prevented this year. Though the provincial government has attempted to clamp down
on all sources of pollution, including restaurants emitting excessive smoke from their barbecues, the
Pakistan Air Quality Experts’ Group, comprising leading air quality experts, researchers, doctors and
scientists, deems these measures ill-planned, insufficient and therefore unlikely to have a meaningful
impact on the larger problem. Another factor has also been blamed extensively by the Punjab
authorities: cross-border pollution from India, from where smoke from stubble-burning and fireworks
during the recently concluded Diwali celebrations are blowing over this week into Pakistan. The Punjab
chief minister is now seeking a joint effort by the two Punjabs to combat the smog crisis, which, the
WHO warns, is reducing the life expectancy of the citizens residing in their territories.

With the authorities told to go back to the drawing board — the provincial environment minister on
Monday said they will “use this week to conduct research, mapping, and studies to reassess and
determine if extended school closures are needed” — this is a good time to reflect on past policies that
have led to this point, and to plan more extensively about how the crisis can be averted in future. It
should be acknowledged that the catastrophe unfolding in Lahore has been years in the making; it is the
product of our authorities’ repeated failure to recognise the environmental impact of rapid urbanisation
and industrialisation. The smog crisis in Lahore should also serve as a stark warning to administrators of
other urban centres. If immediate steps are not taken to address pollution, millions more may soon find
themselves choking on toxic air.

• Epidemic - (‫ )وبا‬- a widespread, rapid outbreak of disease or condition.


• Propensity - (‫ )رجحان‬- a natural tendency or inclination.
• Clamp down - (‫ )سختی سے روکنا‬- to impose strict measures to stop something.
• Ill-planned - (‫ )غیر منصوبہ بند‬- poorly organized or thought out.
• Stubble-burning - (‫ )فصل کی باقیات جالنا‬- setting fire to leftover crop stalks.
• Catastrophe - (‫ )تباہی‬- a sudden, large-scale disaster or failure.

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