City’s AQI reaches hazardous level again

LAHORE:After the Air Quality Index (AQI) reached the hazardous level, the City once again reached top of the world’s 10 most polluted cities here Tuesday.

The City witnessed a hazy day as the smog/fog reduced visibility. Data collected from IQAir, the AQI was recorded as 412, which falls in the category of hazardous, and in the modern world Environmental Emergency was imposed when AQI reached such a high level.

While many citizens complained eyes, throat and breathing problems. They questioned why the Punjab government failed to improve city’s AQI when schools were closed.Doctors said the present level of AQI were very dangerous for the citizens and long-term exposure to such conditions may result in medical complications in the children and aged citizens as well as those who were already heart and asthma patients.

It is pertinent to mention that the EPD focal person has ruled out the presence of smog in the City.Naseemur Rehman, EPD’s focal person, said the main reason behind the high-level of AQI was vehicular pollution as at night, the motorway was closed to traffic. He advised the relevant departments to restrain from closing down the Lahore bypass and allow the heavy traffic to move on it till Babu Sabu and Bund Road.

He said another reason was winter fire by gypsies and other local groups as a result of gas outage. He said the smoke caused by the winter fire should also be controlled.

On the other hand, the other top nine most polluted cities included Delhi, India (216), Dhaka, Bangladesh (195), Hanoi, Vietnam (186), Hangzhou, China (167), Belgrade, Serbia (167), Mumbai, India (166), Chengdu, China (165), Skopje, North Macedonia (164) and Chongqing, China (163).

Meanwhile, Met officials said continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country. They predicted that mainly cold and dry weather was expected in most parts of the country while very cold and partly cloudy in northern parts/northern Balochistan.

Met officials added that dense fog/smog was likely to persist in plain areas of Punjab. Fog/smog may also occur in plain areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and upper Sindh during night and morning while Frost may occur at few places in Pothohar region and Kashmir during morning.

Tuesday’s minimum temperature was recorded at Skardu and Leh where mercury dropped down to -10°C, while in Lahore, it was 5.7°C and maximum was 22°C.