In an effort to curb industrial pollution, Pakistan has implemented its first drone-based monitoring system, and it is already apprehending violators.
The high-tech project, which was started in Punjab by the Environment Department, uses sophisticated thermal drones to search industrial areas for unlawful emissions and environmental infractions.
The system isn’t merely a showpiece; in the days after it went online, it detected three illicit pyrolysis plants in the Mehmood Booti neighborhood of Lahore and reported four other firms for releasing dangerous pollutants. Since then, authorities have taken hundreds of sacks loaded with carbon and started investigating the environmental officers who did nothing.
The Environment Department’s Director General, Imran Hamid Sheikh, described it as “a game changer.” The surveillance system is expected to close enforcement gaps that have let industrial pollution to continue unchecked, he continued. The real-time aerial monitoring, according to officials, will bring previously unheard-of openness and aid in holding regulatory bodies and industries responsible.
It should also aid in addressing the problem of increasing pollution levels in Punjab’s cities, which have been causing smog and other environmental risks as well as a general decline in air quality.
