ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province has launched a campaign to plant 634,000 trees in Lahore in its bid to curb smog in the eastern city, a minister of the provincial government said on Sunday. 

Air pollution or smog choked Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, particularly Lahore, for weeks in November 2024, sickening nearly two million people and shrouding vast swathes of the province in a toxic haze.

The intense air pollution forced Punjab to close schools and offices, ban outdoor activities and shorten timings for restaurants, shops and markets last year in a bid to control the smog. Lahore also consistently ranked among the world’s most polluted cities in the world. 

Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced that the provincial government has launched the tree plantation project on 978 acres of land on the banks of River Ravi in Lahore. 

“A tree plantation campaign in Lahore is essential to end air pollution and extreme heat,” Aurangzeb said. “A green belt on 978 acres on the banks of the Ravi River will provide fresh oxygen and clean air to citizens.”

She urged citizens to join the government in its efforts to erect “a wall of trees” in Lahore to ensure a smog-free Lahore, adding that 105,000 trees have already been planted on 144 acres of land near River Ravi. 

Punjab’s battle against smog led it to install Pakistan’s first locally designed smog cleaning tower in Lahore in December 2024. Smog towers are large-scale air purifiers designed to reduce pollution by filtering out fine particulate matter and other harmful pollutants. 

Using fans, the towers draw in polluted air, which passes through high-efficiency filters to capture PM2.5 and PM10 particles, which pose severe health risks. The cleaned air is then released back into the surrounding area, improving local air quality.