LAHORE – Pakistan’s Lahore tops the list of the most polluted cities on the globe with an alarmingly high Air Quality Index (AQI) of 508 (hazardous) on Sunday afternoon.
Lahore is way ahead of India’s Delhi, the second-ranked most polluted major city in the world, where the AQI was recorded at 221 (very unhealthy) at 03:18 pm.
The Punjab government has announced weeklong school holidays for students up to grade 5 due to hazardous levels of air pollution in the provincial metropolis.
Per the data collected from the IQ Air website, Cairo (Egypt) ranked third with an AQI of 172 (unhealthy), followed by Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) with an AQI of 166 (unhealthy).
Kolkata (India) ranked sixth with an AQI of 163 (unhealthy) while Hanoi (Vietnam) and Wuhan (China) were in seventh and eighth place with an AQI of 160 (unhealthy).
Tashkent (Uzbekistan) is ranked in ninth place with an AQI of 144 (unhealthy for sensitive groups) and Mumbai (India) in 10th place with an AQI of 139 (unhealthy for sensitive groups).
Per the environmentalists, the use of substandard fuels such as plastic and rubber especially in the cottage industry around Bund Road is contributing significantly to the deteriorating air quality.
Vehicular emissions, stubble burning and transboundary pollution are the main reasons for smog formation.
Similarly, LDA and other institutions are doing patchwork of roads in Lahore due to which movement of heavy machinery is a routine.
Most of the heavy vehicles owned by public departments such as LWMC, Wasa, LDA, MCL, C&W etc lacked fitness certificates and were never checked by the relevant authorities.
EPA claimed taking all measures to tackle Smog. A ban has been imposed on the movement of uncovered sand/mud trollies across the province, the EPA officials claimed.
Citizens have been advised to take precautionary measures like using masks while going outdoors, stopping children from playing outside and avoiding travelling to heavily polluted areas.
Citizens have been advised to drive carefully due to reduced visibility, especially early morning and late at night. Medical experts have advised residents to take precautions to avoid flu, skin allergy, eyesore and other diseases.
