LAHORE: The Punjab Environment Protection Department has decided to further tighten enforcement against air pollution ahead of the smog season, with Environmental Protection Agency Director General Abdullah Nayyar Sheikh issuing directions to relevant departments for immediate measures.
The Director General ordered the Suthra Punjab Authority to abandon the dry sweeping of roads with immediate effect, saying dry sweeping lifts dust back into the atmosphere and adds to pollution. An alternative cleaning system should be adopted to bring air pollution under control, he said.
The instruction targets a specific and under-recognised source of particulate matter. Mechanical or manual sweeping of a dry road surface re-suspends settled dust rather than removing it, producing a measurable spike in PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations along the swept corridor. Wet sweeping or vacuum-assisted systems capture the material instead.
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Abdullah Nayyar Sheikh imposed a strict ban on the open burning of rubbish, leaves and other waste, warning that severe action would be taken in the event of a violation.
Open waste burning is among the most visible contributors to Lahore’s autumn air quality decline, and among the hardest to police because it occurs at neighbourhood scale across thousands of locations rather than at a handful of identifiable industrial sites.
The Director General ordered strict implementation of dust control standard operating procedures at under-construction roads and buildings, declaring mandatory the sprinkling of water, the covering of construction material, and the installation of dust barriers around project sites.
He said it was essential to prevent dust from spreading into residential areas and onto roads, and that all possible sources of pollution must be effectively controlled before the onset of smog.
Lahore’s air quality follows a predictable annual cycle. From late October through January, falling temperatures and reduced wind speed create a thermal inversion layer that traps particulate matter close to the ground. The pollution load itself — vehicle emissions, industrial output, construction dust, crop residue burning and municipal waste burning — is present year-round; the inversion simply prevents it from dispersing.
That is why pre-season enforcement matters more than in-season enforcement. Once the inversion sets in, measures taken to reduce emissions produce a smaller improvement in measured air quality than the same measures taken in September and October, when there is still atmospheric mixing to carry pollutants away.
The department’s directions cover three distinct enforcement targets with very different characteristics. Suthra Punjab is a single authority that can be instructed directly. Construction sites are identifiable, permitted and inspectable. Open burning is diffuse, unpermitted and occurs largely outside working hours.
Punjab has in recent years supplemented conventional inspection with air quality monitoring stations, satellite-based fire detection for crop residue burning, and penalty regimes tied to industrial emission standards. The effectiveness of the current round of directions will depend on whether the monitoring infrastructure is matched by field capacity to act on what it detects.
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