 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Cloudy horizons
I have been coughing and choking all week because of the strange black smog that still has a strangle-hold on Cairo and its environs. Many of my acquaintances are suffering from allergies and irritations in their eyes, throat and lungs. Should the authorities not give us a hint as to when this torture will end? Every two days, the papers announce the cloud will disappear within 48 hours; it has been 10 days now, and it has given no sign of complying.
The government has attributed this cloud to the fact that the peasants in the governorates around Cairo are burning rice straw and dry cotton stalks, but officials in at least some of these governorates have denied this and declared that no clouds or smoke obscure their skies.
Since the government's explanation cannot be wrong, one is forced to conclude that these fires are lit in secret -- perhaps in the peasants' homes. This, of course, implies that the peasants learned only recently that they can get rid of detritus by burning it.
Officials have replied that atmospheric conditions have prevented the smoke from dissipating; but these conditions seem to prevail only at night.
I also heard that the Cabinet held an extraordinary session to get to the bottom of the matter, but what was said there? Were any measures taken to relieve people's discomfort?
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
