Lahore third among most polluted cities of world

LAHORE : Lahore continued to retain its third position among the top ten most polluted cities amongst the world here on Saturday.

As per the data collected from IQAir, an international website issuing air pollution data of the world cities, Lahore remained on the third position for the second consecutive day with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 140.

Chongqing, China with an AQI of 163 and Karachi, Pakistan with an AQI of 154 were the first and second most polluted cities on the list of top ten cities. The remaining top polluted cities included Delhi, India with AQI of 139, Chengdu, China with an AQI of 129, Kuwait City, Kuwait with an AQI of 127, Lima, Peru with and AQI of 126, Kaohsiung, Taiwan with an AQI of 122, Yangon, Myanmar with an AQI of 120 and Hangzhou, China with an AQI of 108.

Statistics revealed that during 2021, Pakistan was ranked as the third most polluted country in the world with an average AQI of 156.

In 2021, Bangladesh was ranked first in the list of top ten most polluted cities with an average AQI of 161, Chad stood second in the list with AQI of 161 and Tajikistan stood fourth with an AQI of 152. As per the data of IQAir, India was the fifth most polluted country in 2021 with an AQI of 151 after which came Oman with an AQI of 146, Kyrgyzstan with an AQI of 138, Bahrain with an AQI of 136, Iraq with an AQI of 136 and Nepal with an AQI of 126.

It is pertinent to mention here that Environmental Protection Department was measuring PM 2.5, which is the major pollutant to measure smog, only through a mobile van and through a low cost device installed at China Scheme Karol Ghaati. As per EPD’s official data of AQI for Saturday was that at Town Hall, Lahore, Carbon Monoxide (CO) 5 (mg/m3) was 111, at Township, C2 sector, Block 1, Carbon Monoxide (CO) 5 (mg/m3) was 100, at Punjab Civil Secretariat, Islampura, the AQI was recorded through Mobile van and Particulate matter (PM2.5) was 141 and at China Scheme

Karol Ghati, Lahore AQI was measured through AERAS AQMS-500 the PM2.5 was 119.

It was again pertinent to mention here that smog was increasing in the city every day. Several citizens were witnessing haze, irritation in eyes and breathing problems in the localities where traffic jams were a routine while those areas where Lahore Development Authority was completing its ongoing development projects. On the other hand, Met officials said that continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country. They predicted that mainly dry weather was expected in most parts while cold in hilly areas of the country. Saturday’s lowest minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped down to -05°C while in Lahore it was 16.1°C and maximum

was 30.6°C.