THE Punjab government would be keen to forget its first year of treating smog as ‘a year-round epidemic’ instead of a seasonal issue. The policy shift, announced in July this year, has so far failed to yield the desired results. Indeed, the air quality in Lahore is now worse than it has ever been, with the Air Quality Index exceeding 1,000 on Sunday for the first time ever. Children have been told to stay at home this week as primary schools up to Grade 5 have been shut by the provincial government due to the smog hazard. The polluted air, which carries hazardous chemicals many times over the standards set by the World Health Organisation, can cause a host of respiratory diseases, as well as strokes,........

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