Fawad Chaudhry offers scientific solution to tackle smog

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Fawad Chaudhry taking to the social networking platform Twitter offered a scientific solution to tackle smog on both sides of the border, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The minister in a tweet said that the burning of crops in the city of Jalandhar in India was wreaking havoc on both sides of the border, adding to the toxicity in the air making it difficult to breathe in.

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The tweet read: “Crop burning in Jallender is playing havoc with the environment on both sides of Punjab border, We can help Indian Punjab Govt to use a mechanical solution to turn crop waste into a burning billet, that can be used as fuel when needed #Sciencehelps“

Crop burning in Jallender is playing havoc with environment on both sides of Punjab border, We can help Indian Punjb Govt to use a machine solution to turn crop waste into a burning billet, that can be used as fuel when needed #Sciencehelps

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) November 7, 2019

Chaudhry offered a ‘machine-based solution’ to turn the crop residue into a source of energy rather than burning acres of land where the crop was grown and adding to the air pollution levels.

South Asia has overtaken China to become home to the most polluted cities in the world. Fifteen of the world’s 20 worst polluted cities in 2018 were in India, according to the latest data from Greenpeace and AirVisual.

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The Pakistani city of Lahore and Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, also made the top 20, making South Asia a particularly toxic region. 99% of cities in South Asia failed to meet WHO PM 2.5 targets. PM 2.5 is fine particulate matter – less than one-millionth of a meter in width and able to penetrate blood vessels with ease –  tiny airborne particles that are linked to a wide range of health problems

In India experts argue that current levels of air pollution represent a “public health emergency” requiring a “full emergency mode” response from local and national authorities. A 2017 Lancet study estimated that 1.2 million people have died because of India’s dirty air and life expectancy would have been higher by 1.7 years if its people breathed clean air.