Going after smoke-emitting vehicles

Punjab tightens noose as air pollution reaches alarming levels

Lahore: Because of the lane closure at Kalma Chowk, traffic on Canal Road near Muslim Town Morr is heavier than usual. Transport Enforcement Inspector Khurram Shehzad, along with another colleague and a representative of the Vehicle Inspection and Certification System (VICS), is stationed at the site.

“It’ll be a long day,” Khurram warns his coworker. They’ve arrived to inspect the smoke-emitting automobiles. The busy road is jam-packed with cars, vans, motorbikes, and rickshaws.

The heat of the day is felt by Khurram and his teammate. The reason is obvious, as earlier on Tuesday, the climate justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC), Justice Shahid Karim, urged the government to give notice of the closure of schools in Lahore city three times a week—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—as a last-ditch effort to lessen the levels of toxic air. Because of the continuous hazardous air quality levels of the city, the Punjab government declared an environmental emergency in Lahore, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura and some other cities.

Earlier in the morning, Khurram Shehzad received a message from the Punjab Transport Company bosses to set up a point on Canal Road near Muslim Town Morr. On Tuesday, he spent his day inspecting vehicles near Barkat Market in Garden Town.

“We change the point every day,” Khurram explains. “If we keep a permanent location, the public transport, the usual culprit in the smoke-related violations, start protesting and in many cases, they block the roads. To keep the motorists alert, we keep on changing our inspection points.”

A meeting of the Punjab Transport Company bosses late on Tuesday decided about the vehicle inspection points for Wednesday. In this connection, they decided to deploy teams on Canal Road near Muslim Town Mor, at Gujju Mata and Babu Sabu. Information was passed on to the teams on Wednesday morning. The team spots a smoke-emitting rickshaw and signals it to pull over. The rickshaw driver chooses to avoid the team and speeds away. Meanwhile, a team of traffic wardens joins them. “Usually, we operate with the representatives of traffic police and environment department officials under the supervision of the city district government,” the representative of VICS says.

Another rickshaw is pulled in by the team. “Please, show us the vehicle fitness certificate and route permit,” says one of the transport enforcement inspectors.

“The vehicle does not belong to me, hence no documents,” says the driver. “Well, ask the owner to WhatsApp you or us the fitness document,” demands the inspector. After haggling, the driver hands over his identity card, which the team confiscates and hands him over a Rs2,000 ticket.

In the next three hours, the team continues to check rickshaws, loader vans and mini-trucks. Of 20 vehicles, only one mini-truck driver produces the vehicle fitness certificate. The vehicle belongs to a private limited company, and its vendors have strict rules regarding certifications. The vehicle driver is told to get their vehicle checked from a VICS station.

VICS runs a cutting-edge “Ramp and Stamp” vehicle inspection system to improve passenger safety and control excessive vehicle emissions by ensuring the fitness of public service and commercial vehicles. VICS stations are run by private companies. Once a vehicle is admitted to a VICS centre, the staff checks the vehicle’s harmful emissions with computerised gadgets and suggests ways to improve the vehicle’s service delivery.

Why no car or other private vehicle is being checked?

“Well, this team’s mandate is to check the fitness certificate, which a public vehicle driver must have. Our teams which work with the environment department, ticket private vehicles too,” says Khurram.

The team packs up at 1 pm and is replaced with another one. Punjab Transport Company Chief Executive Officer Abdul Qayyum says his department has deployed 80-90 officials coordinating with environmental authorities to reduce traffic-related pollution.

Each team checks 70 to 80 vehicles a day.

With increasing haze levels, Lahore has topped the list of the world’s most polluted cities. The production of specific pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, and other particulate matter, results in the formation of smog, a type of air pollution. It is a type of photochemical haze that is frequently observed in big cities and is created when sunlight interacts with various air contaminants. Numerous health concerns, such as headaches, eye discomfort, and respiratory problems, can be brought on by smog. Additionally, it might lower visibility, which would lower air quality. To enhance air quality, governments all around the world have put measures in place to lower smog levels.

Dr Muhammad Zaman, sociology department head at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, is leading a Higher Education Commission-funded project on road safety and vehicular pollution. He says that the solution to combat smog lies in zero tolerance for smog control rules. He claims that the government must enforce rules, even at the local level, on what to say about commercial and industrial zones to reduce toxic air levels. He said mass transit, mass tree plantation, electric vehicles and strict enforcement of industry rules could turn the tide.

“Otherwise, we should learn to live with smog, which is, of course, bad learning.”