A thick layer of toxic smog now blankets large parts of India and Pakistan, as air quality continues to deteriorate to dangerous levels. NASA recently released satellite images revealing the extent of the pollution, which spans the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plain across both countries. This annual crisis is exacerbated by a combination of farm fires, vehicle emissions, and industrial pollution.
‘Cloud Of Poison’ What’s Behind Pakistan’s Pollution Crisis
Why In News
- A thick layer of toxic smog now blankets large parts of India and Pakistan, as air quality continues to deteriorate to dangerous levels.
- NASA recently released satellite images revealing the extent of the pollution, which spans the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plain across both countries. This annual crisis is exacerbated by a combination of farm fires, vehicle emissions, and industrial pollution.
Current Situation
- Images from the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Multan this weekend show the dark haze engulfing streets and blocking buildings from view.
- Pollution in the region ramps up each winter, when an ominous yellow haze blankets the skies due to a combination of farmers burning agricultural waste, coal-fired power plants, traffic and windless days. Air quality worsens in the winter because colder and drier air traps pollution, rather than lifting it away, as warm air does when it rises.
- As per Swiss air quality monitor IQAir, conditions in Multan reached shocking levels as the Air Quality Index (AQI) exceeded 2,000 last week, the worst level on the planet.
- Lahore, the provincial capital, was no less better as the AQI surged to 1,900 —over 120 times higher than the limit defined by the World Health Organization.
Pakistan Cities Under ’Lockdown’
- The smog situation which is worsening day by day, has led authorities to place many cities in Pakistan’s Punjab under ‘forced lockdowns’.
- Lahore, the state capital of 14 million people, has been blanketed in a thick layer of smoke and fog for days.
- As a result, the city witnessed widespread road closures due to low visibility, after reports of multiple accidents were reported.
- PM 2.5 concentration in Multan, the second largest city in Southern Punjab, reached 947 micrograms per cubic metre, close to 190 times the WHO-recommended level. Anything over 5 micrograms per cubic metre is hazardous.
Why Are The Pollution Levels So Bad?
- One major cause of smog is the common practice among farmers of burning crop stubble to clear their fields quickly and cheaply.
- Though this method is illegal in Pakistan, weak enforcement has allowed it to continue. Each year, a similar situation plays out in India, where farmers in Punjab burn crop residue, creating dense smog over Delhi and other parts of northern India.
- This year, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) breached the severe mark multiple times. The Punjab government in Pakistan claims it has offered farmers alternatives to stubble burning.
- However, Khalid Khokhar, president of the farmers’ association, refuted this. “More than 10 million farmers live and work in Punjab. Burning the crop is the cheapest option, so that’s why it has continued. We need help for a cheap alternative for all farmers,” .
- According to Nasa, stubble burning is projected to increase this year, with estimates suggesting between 15,500 and 18,500 fires, as per Hiren Jethva, a senior research scientist at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Morgan State University.
- In addition, much of Lahore’s air pollution stems from emissions from the city’s five million motorbikes and millions of other vehicles. On Friday, Lahore’s high court identified heavy traffic emissions as a primary contributor to the smog.
- Adding to the problem are industries on Lahore’s outskirts, particularly coal-fired brick kilns, which pump further pollutants into the air. As the year ends, cold air descending from Tibet traps this pollution over the city, intensifying the smog.
Pakistan Officials Blame India
- Officials have blamed “unprecedented” wind patterns for the rising air pollution levels in the region, Dawn reported. They said that a “wind pool” has entered into the region from Indian cities of Jaipur and Bikaner, causing the pollution crisis.
