AQI in City reaches 400: Lahore again world’s second most polluted city

LAHORE:Air Quality Index (AQI) of the provincial capital touched 400 while the average AQI was 208 ranking the City as second in the list of world’s top 10 most polluted cities here on Wednesday.

Data collected from IQAir revealed that the average AQI of the City was 208, which came in the category of very unhealthy. It said the PM2.5 concentrations in Lahore was currently 26.6 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value. The highest AQI in the City was recorded at Sundar Raiwind where it was 477 while it was 332 at Polo Ground Cantt.

Meanwhile, Met office said continental air was prevailing over most areas. They predicted that cold and dry weather was expected in most parts of the country. Smog/fog (in patches) was likely to prevail in isolated plain areas of Punjab and upper Sindh during morning/night.

Wednesday's minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped to -09°C, while in Lahore, it was 12.2°C and maximum was 26.5°C. Meanwhile, Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said all institutions concerned in Punjab have been in a state of war for the elimination of smog and impacts of climate change for the past eight months.

While talking with The News here on Wednesday, she said recently she met with a delegation of Asian Development Bank delegation led by Emma XIaoqin in which detailed discussion on smog-related regulation, action, technology, infrastructure, mid-term, long-term and short-term plans took place.

‘A full-scale crackdown on violation of smog rules is under way under the Multi-Sectoral Action Plan, the Department of Environmental Protection has been equipped with technology for monitoring,’ she maintained, adding with the support of the World Bank, we have worked on the e-Mass Transit programme, six AQI monitors have been installed for smog calculation while 30 monitors were in the pipeline.

‘There is a strong focus on technology and interventions. We are sending our people to Beijing for a study mission on smog and, we are also scientifically studying smog,’ she added. Talking about local issues related to smog, she said we have to introduce our own expertise. She said to prevent burning of crops, 1,000 super seeders have been given to farmers at a 60% subsidy and factories are also being provided financial and technical assistance for installation of emission control systems.

Marriyum Aurangzeb said during the last eight months, we have worked on smog at every level and informed the citizens. We have to become experts on this subject at the local level as well and we have started research and study on smog at the local universities.

‘Smog has been included in the curriculum of schools and educational institutions, we are at the short-term level but are also working on the long-term measures,’ she stated and said now smog has become a problem not only of Lahore but of the whole of Punjab.

Smog Observatory is being established, plastic ban is being imposed. For the first time, vehicle fitness certification has been made mandatory,’ she maintained. ‘Infrastructure, mapping, study, research technology, surveillance challenges have been tackled. A dynamic and comprehensive campaign has been launched for the first time. We are moving towards bio refinery and e-revolution,’ the minister revealed.

Smog cannot be eliminated overnight, with these continuous efforts, it will take us at least 10 years, the senior minister said adding this time, due to the direction and speed of the easterly winds, our smog has increased further. Punjab has been battling seasonal levels of smog coming from 75 percent across the border, dialogue has been initiated with the Foreign Office, she concluded.