Pakistan’s Punjab enacts work-from-home policy to tackle smog

The Government of Punjab, Pakistan implemented a work-from-home policy in most affected cities on Thursday in response to intensifying smog that has engulfed several key divisions and affected millions in the province.

Pakistan’s megacity near the border with India regularly registers among the world's most polluted cities. Smog is particularly bad in winter as a result of low-grade fuel from factories and vehicles in the city of 14 million, where denser cold air traps emissions at ground level.

Seasonal crop burn-off by farmers on the outskirts of the provincial capital is also a major contributing factor.

A view of anti-smog squad vehicles parked outside the office of the Environment Protection and Climate Change Department in Lahore, Pakistan November 4, 2024. Reuters

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s administration announced today measures to curb exposure to hazardous air pollution in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Multan.

Under the new guidelines, offices across public and private sectors are directed to operate with a 50 percent in-person workforce. This effort, officials say, is intended to lower the levels of daily transportation, which significantly contribute to the worsening air quality.

How bad is Lahore's air quality?

Swiss group IQAir, which draws data from 14 regional monitoring stations, rated Lahore the world's most polluted city a day earlier, with an air quality index (AQI) score of 1165, more than 120 times the levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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Pollution rose to unprecedented levels on Sunday on the city's outskirts, with a score of 1900.

What causes the toxic air?

Several parts of South Asia suffer pollution every winter as cold air traps pollutants, such as emissions, dust, and smoke from burning on farms to clear the remnants of rice crops before wheat is planted.

Lahore officials have previously blamed pollution on vehicle fuel of poor quality, as well as construction and industrial activity.

Zeeshan uses a face mask to avoid smog while reading a book at a park in Lahore, Pakistan November 5, 2024.Reuters

This year, however, more than ever before, the provincial government has blamed toxic air wafting in from neighboring India, where northern regions are also battling hazardous air.

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The Indian capital of New Delhi was the world's second most polluted city on Wednesday, with a score of 299, IQAir said.

How will the issue be resolved in the long run?

Punjab plans to approach India through the foreign ministry for talks to thrash out a solution to the toxic air.

"We are hopeful that India will respond positively," Punjab senior minister Marriyum Aurangzeb told the Indian Express newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday.

—With additional input from AFP.