The cities of Lahore and New Delhi are going through difficult weeks because of air pollution, but the problem actually affects the whole of India and Pakistan
Pollution is an increasingly serious problem in countries such as India and Pakistan, and some municipalities are taking extreme measures to combat it. In Lahore, Pakistan, there will be a shorter working week at least until January, with schools, offices and shops remaining closed on Mondays. New Delhi, in India, has taken a similar measure with regard to schools. Air quality is deteriorating steadily, the incidence of respiratory diseases among the population is rising, and in this situation even basic services are at risk. National governments, however, are standing by and watching.
At least until 15 January, many residents of Lahore, the Pakistani city on the border with India, will have a three-day weekend. The Punjab Relief Commissioner, Babar Hayat Tarar, issued this order at the end of November in response to increasingly unsustainable pollution levels.
Lahore consistently features in the top ten most polluted cities in the world and in recent weeks has even topped the list. Levels of fine particulate matter in the urban centre are around 40 times those set by the World Health Organization (WHO), and air-quality-related illnesses among the population are becoming ever more frequent. Local institutions in previous years failed to take effective action to tackle this situation, and concerns about pollution were even described as a conspiracy used to attack politicians. In reality, several studies point the finger at uncontrolled industrial activity and traffic, compounded by farmers' seasonal crop burning and unfavourable weather conditions that prevent air from circulating. The destruction of public green spaces over recent decades to make way for concrete has done the rest.
Shortening the working week is the solution adopted by local institutions in an attempt to reduce emissions and patch up years of inaction. In addition, private-sector companies have been ordered to operate with 50 per cent of staff on-site, encouraging remote working. The aim is to reduce the movement of people and the resulting pollution.
New Delhi too, in recent weeks, took a similar initiative to that of Lahore. The Indian capital vies with the Pakistani city for the top spot in the world ranking for the worst air quality, and in November schools and colleges remained closed for 15 days, in what amounted to a full-blown education lockdown for environmental reasons. Local institutions ordered educational centres to reopen at the beginning of December, but the Indian Supreme Court put a stop to everything.
Over these months, the relentless deterioration in New Delhi's pollution levels prompted the city authorities to introduce a series of measures, such as purchasing a large fleet of electric buses, banning most diesel vehicles from the city, and halting construction work. The situation has not improved, and this led to the decision to suspend certain in-person services, such as education. In recent days, five large coal-fired power plants on the outskirts of the city were also shut down. All this while the incidence of respiratory diseases and cancers continues to rise, particularly among the city's children.
Lahore and New Delhi are not negative exceptions; on the contrary, they represent the tip of the iceberg of a problem that affects the whole of this area of South Asia.
Suffering from asthma, bronchial infections, lung damage and other such conditions is commonplace in Pakistan, and according to the Global alliance on health and pollution at least 128,000 Pakistanis die every year as a result of pollution. The average life expectancy of a Pakistani person has been reduced by two years precisely because of the poor air quality. Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that by 2030 the country will increase renewables in its energy mix by 30 per cent, but for now this goal seems a long way off, given that dependence on fossil fuels appears very firmly entrenched. Added to this are the coal plants that China is building in Punjab as part of the New Silk Road project.
The rest of India is not faring well either. According to the scientific journal The Lancet, 1.67 million deaths in the country in 2019 were caused by pollution, with 15 of the 20 cities with the worst air quality in the world located right here. The Modi government has so far appeared more intent on passing the blame to local institutions than on trying to change the state of affairs. On the closing day of Cop26 in Glasgow, it secured, together with China, the replacement of the word "abandonment" of fossil fuels with "reduction" in the final document. For the prime minister, coal is driving the country's growth and lifting large swathes of the population out of poverty. Many others, however, are falling ill, while India is beginning to weigh ever more heavily on the planet's shoulders.
