Intolerable pollution

Dawn has a news item today by Suparco, which states that the pollution in the city has crossed tolerable limits. The question is, what is the government doing about it? Or will we be forced to slowly die of air pollution?

An excerpt from the article:

The air and water pollution levels in Karachi have crossed national and international environment quality standards posing serious threat to the lives of 12 million residents of the city. In a report prepared by the Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco), scientists have warned the government to take immediate measures to check the factors responsible for deteriorating environment. The research report, which was prepared for the city government, also warned that the metropolis had already reached the critical sustenance limits of pollution on roads. The scientists stated: “The impact of a reduced oxygen level on roads is already apparent from the blood picture of the people residing in or making a living at various traffic intersections. Any addition of a polluting system or technology that may increase the concentration of the pollutants by a mere 1 micro gram per cubic meter (¬µg/m3) is likely to be catastrophic. “Accordingly further addition of automobiles to the existing fleet of vehicles should be stopped forthwith,” the scientists of the prime research body recommended.

Read the entire article here

11 Comments so far

  1. Umer Zaman (unregistered) on July 20th, 2006 @ 2:33 pm

    No way anyone can force us to die of air pollution slowly, we would definately die willingly by air pollution =)

    No one wants to live forever anymore


  2. mansoor (unregistered) on July 20th, 2006 @ 4:10 pm

    ouch! so much for the lungs :S


  3. YO YO (unregistered) on July 20th, 2006 @ 8:52 pm

    Some kind of annual/Bi-annual vehicle inspection should be introduced. There they can check for emission levels in a car…


  4. Dee (unregistered) on July 20th, 2006 @ 9:42 pm

    Hmmm instead of waiting for Govt to do something, try planting trees as they are wonderful pollution sweeper.Also, you can use indoor plants and if living in appartments you can use balcony for few plants.
    I remember reading in newspaper about Govt of Canada planning to use some sort of road tar which has a capacity to break pollutants into non harmful by products(well it involved chemistry).
    Dee


  5. SWA (unregistered) on July 20th, 2006 @ 11:38 pm

    Goes to show we really need mass transit. And QUICK.


  6. wasiq (unregistered) on July 21st, 2006 @ 1:45 am

    iam so sorry to hear about the publisher and printer of daily Dawn …..very few ppl read the last line iam sure to be familier with the two most important ppl in our everyday life…
    the loss is great i don’t think increasing the price of Dawn Bread could ever cover for it….!


  7. Mona (unregistered) on July 21st, 2006 @ 5:19 am

    my city, Citrus Heights-CA, is having a clear the air week every other month (or so says the roadsign) so atleast people having a conscience can make that effort in Karachi as well. Run errands collectively, save on gas and use public transport (uhh maybe!).And ppl here on metblogs r such ppl who can make the difference :) so lets get going just a few days every other month :)


  8. Poo Poo Head (unregistered) on July 21st, 2006 @ 6:07 am

    My city, San Francisco-CA is having today and tomorrow “Spare the Air Day”. All the trains and buses would give free ride. They have only 3 such days per year like this but atleast they try to help. But that help does not make any difference except some people get free rides.I have not seen any one leaving car just for free rides. Symbolic but waste.By the way I do not care for air pollution at all. I just dont believe that ozone theory. That is just one extra tension and I believe that google or apple with come up very soon with some pretty software to compete against air pollution. Live free and leave all such tensions for scientists.


  9. Poo Poo Head (unregistered) on July 21st, 2006 @ 7:54 am

    Did any one fom karachi jump today ??

    http://www.worldjumpday.org/


  10. Adnan Siddiqi (unregistered) on July 21st, 2006 @ 10:13 am

    Bhai poo humara tu hur din *Jump Day* hota hay.Hamari hakomat ne ayse umda sarkain banai hain k hur waqt jump he karta rahtay hain


  11. Nadir (unregistered) on July 21st, 2006 @ 12:25 pm

    Well, The government tried to plant the trees. But they forgot to untie the leaves when they planted the whole tree, at various places in karaci. Like civic center, the leaves are dying all tied up facing the sky!!!

    :( its a real pain to see the nice air cleaning ojects tied up by the government!

    so sad… :'(



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