Punjab mulls artificial rain to cope with smog

LAHORE :Following scattered rain, smog level reached hazardous level in the provincial capital here Thursday forcing the provincial government to think about some immediate solution such as artificial rain.

The idea of artificial rain was discussed in a meeting held Thursday under the chair of Commissioner Lahore Division Asif Bilal Lodhi. Commissioner Lahore said that the government has started working on this concept and in case smog level increased more, the government might execute this idea.

CTO Lahore Capt (r) Liaqat Ali, DG Environment Tanvir Warraich, Additional Commissioner Tariq Qureshi, ADCR Lahore Safdar Virk, ACG Muhammad Jafar, Secretary RTA Ghias-ud-Din participated in the meeting. All DCs and ACs joined the meeting through a video link.

Commissioner Lahore Division said that smog had become a serious challenge for urban cities like Lahore and there was a need of permanent planning of preventive and remedial strategy and action against smog because there is absolutely no compromise on human health. He said that environment, traffic police, transport, district administrations, agriculture and information departments must put their full energy to curb smog reasons and public awareness.

He said that hitherto 12 environment teams were working for anti-smog campaign in Lahore but now 36 teams would be active in Lahore from today (Friday) and teams would check the vehicles too, entering into the city at night. He said that traffic police and all 18 zonal officers of MCL would also work with environment teams. He said all departments were working efficiently separately but coordinated efforts would be more fruitful.

Commissioner Lahore directed DCs of Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib and Kasur to sensitise their efforts to the level of Lahore because those districts were adjoining to each other. He said there was zero-tolerance on burning of crops’ stubble and on emissions from brick-kilns, vehicles and industrial units. He said that crackdown would be continued on kilns without zigzag technology.

He also directed that fitness certificates for all government vehicles must be renewed within next three days. He said massive public awareness campaign was the need of the hour and that must be reflected on all media. He directed DCs to get pin point location from satellite imagery to curtail crop burning and for targeted crackdown. He said that not only Lahore, but Nankana Sahib, Kasur and Sheikhupura were also facing smog condition severely.

As per Air Quality Index of US Embassy in Lahore the level of pm 2.5 reached to 342. Meanwhile, Met officials said that a westerly wave is affecting most parts of the country and likely to persist until tomorrow (Saturday). They predicted that on Friday (today) widespread rain/wind-thunderstorm is expected in Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while at scattered places in Punjab, Lower Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Northeastern Balochistan, Upper Sindh, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir. Snowfall over mountains is also expected during the period. Heavy fall is also expected at few places in upper Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Rainfall was recorded in several cities, including Nagarparkar, Islam Kot, Dalai, Mithi, Diplo, Chhor, Chachro, Kloi, Multan, DG Khan, Patan, Mirkhani, Kalam, Balakot, Kakul, Chitral, Parachinar, Drosh, Muzaffarabad, Chakotti, Garhi Dupatta, Astore and Lasbella. On Thursday, minimum temperature was recorded at Gupis where mercury dropped down to -02°C while in Lahore, it was 13.6°C and maximum was 26.5°C.