ABSTRACT

Air Pollution has been defined as a regional health challenge in Punjab, that leads to many people getting sick, even after so many policies, air pollution is still increasing. This study is conducted to explore the significant obstacles hindering the effective implementation of air pollution prevention policies in Punjab. This study has two objectives, first one is to review the air pollution policies that were formulated during the past three decades to increase air quality in Punjab. The second objective is to get stakeholder narratives, interviews were conducted with stakeholders from the Planning and Development Board, Environmental Protection Department, Transport Department, Agriculture Department, The Urban Unit, and some others. Two methodologies were adopted for the study, policy review and thematic analysis. The study uses a qualitative approach to analyze policy documents and thematic analysis for both objectives. The first objective was the policy review and the review described that the policies are well-formulated and follow international standards with robust frameworks and penalties. But still air quality is decreasing, which means that the real issue lies in the implementation process of policies. The second objective was to get departmental constraints while implementing policies. The stakeholder’s narrative identifies that despite a strong framework of air pollution policies in Punjab, their effective implementation remains a persistent challenge and there are systematic hindrances, including insufficient financial facilities to execute environmental laws, lack of human resources, and poor coordination among various organizations. Recommendations made from the findings are that the policies should be made with long-term goals instead of addressing just immediate events, and government should enhance the funding for environmental projects, and inter-department coordination should be increased to align actions, and smooth policy implementation.