Last month, Punjab’s Chief Minister inaugurated a high-tech steam plant in Sheikhupura, built by a multinational company and designed to consume around 72,000 tonnes of biomass as fuel annually. By burning biomass in a controlled environment fitted with emission-control filters, the plant offers a far cleaner alternative to the open-field disposal of crop residues — a practice that remains one of the major contributors to Punjab’s smog crisis.
The smog season is fast approaching — a period when Lahore and several other Pakistani cities frequently rank among the world’s most polluted cities. In recent years, the scale and spread of this health hazard have grown significantly. In late October and November, farmers burn rice straw and stubble — residues left after harvest — to clear their fields for the next (Rabi) crops, including wheat, oilseeds, potatoes, and vegetables.
To combat smog, Punjab’s provincial government, as always, resorted to its familiar response: coercive and punitive measures — the invocation of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, arrests, heavy fines and jail terms for farmers. Such a response is popular in our political and bureaucratic circles because it is quick to deploy and matches their command-and-control instincts and experience.
