Hailed as the fifth season in Lahore, smog returns every year ever so diligently and with more severity. In a bid to control the situation, the previous government came up with short-term solutions to the problem. This included the imposition of a ban on crop burning and the use of brick kilns. However, to avoid penalisation, farmers and workers now tend to indulge in these activities at night because of lack of supervision. No government till date has managed to understand the problem in its entirety and come up with policies which improve the situation in the long run. The development plan of Lahore has choked the air quality and the growing increase in private transport due to the lack of public one has added to the air pollution in the city. This year alone, Lahore ranked as the city with the worst air quality.
Along with the current scenario, there is no solution provided or postulated for the crop burning that occurs across the border. With issues that affect nations equally, both countries need to join hands and be accountable for adding to the deteriorating health conditions. Last year alone, smog resulted in the death of 60,000 people in Lahore and its adjoining areas. The number of people suffering from respiratory diseases has increased and no awareness campaigns have been launched for people who neither worry about mobility in this smoke nor use any preventive methods to save themselves from the smoke that people smell and see. There are no messages from the government asking people to remain indoors due to the bad weather conditions and like the general population, the government itself is waiting for the rain to clear out the situation. The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) this year failed to update its air quality monitoring systems. At the same time, people also do not have a direction on how to assess air quality on their own.
The solution requires the government on all levels to be vigilant. The committees formed previously for the task have failed to provide a comprehensive analysis. At this point, there is a need to control the increasing number of cars, and the increasing investment in real estate and infrastructure contracting without any regard for the environment. Urbanisation at the cost of the environment along with the health of the people should be discouraged at all times.