ISLAMABAD/AMRITSAR: Lahore continued to choke with dangerous levels of pollution for the second consecutive day, with the Pakistani city emerging as the second most polluted city in the world at 8.30 pm IST on Monday per IQAir, an international pollution monitoring website, edging past Delhi which topped the chart. The provincial govt of Punjab in Pakistan blamed the problem on the polluted winds from India.
A day earlier, Lahore was the most polluted city in the world, registering a pollution reading way above the “dangerous” mark of 300.
Govt efforts failed to bring down pollution levels in Lahore and a thick smog covered the city on Monday.
Experts attribute Lahore’s unprecedented air pollution to crop burning, vehicle emissions, industrial emissions and winter cooling.
The deteriorating Air Quality Index (AQI) has prompted authorities to shut down schools and ban entry of heavy transport vehicles into the city on Fridays and Sundays. Construction work has been halted and govt has directed street and food vendors to shut their businesses by 8pm.
Marriyum Aurangzeb, a minister in Pakistan’s Punjab govt, blamed winds from Amritsar and Chandigarh for Lahore’s deteriorating air quality. At a press conference, she said Lahore’s AQI jumped due to high-speed winds and entered Pakistan from India. “With the change in wind’s direction and speed, AQI of Lahore is now around 500,” she claimed.
Marriyum, who holds multiple portfolios including environment protection and climate change in Pakistan Punjab’s provincial govt, also claimed that on Saturday, AQI at the centre of Lahore was 1,067, and again with change in wind direction it slipped to 200 and oscillated between 180 and 200 after 1pm Saturday.
She said the smog cannot be addressed without a dialogue with India. “We cannot stop or redirect the Indian air. The only solution is dialogue,” she said. Effective action to mitigate the issue requires cooperation between govts on both sides of the border, she added.