LAHORE: The provincial capital was on Monday declared the most polluted city in the world, leaving its traditional rival New Delhi far behind: the official air quality index (AQI) of Lahore was reported at 289 (as per the average between 9am and 5pm) and international monitoring bodies put the score at 397.
New Delhi stood at less than half of Lahore’s pollution level, with 187.
Individual areas of Lahore fared worse, with Kot Lakhpat (industrial area) crossing over 500, Fatehgarh housing most of the steel melting industry close to 400 and relatively green areas like Raiwind at 403 AQI.
“At 397 AQI, [or particulate matter (PM) 2.5], the pollution concentration is 34.8 times higher than the annual air quality value set by the World Health Organisation. This is, what environmentalists call, hazardous with it getting ‘extremely hazardous’ at individual points,” explains Abdul Rauf, representing an organisation working on air quality of the city.
Every year, smoke from the brick kilns and burning stubble causes haze. Government representatives are aware of it. They ought to make appropriate plans. They only grab salaries, that’s all,” Lahore shopkeeper Ali Mohammad remarked.
Every year when this weather pattern develops, action should be taken to address the underlying source of the pollution. Closing stores and halting transportation will have no effect.
Another neighbor, Mohammad Jameel, claimed that the lockdowns would mainly affect the impoverished and were not a solution to the smog.
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