LAHORE: The Air Quality Index (AQI) of the provincial capital touched 400 while the average AQI was 208, ranking the city second in the list of 10 most polluted cities in the world here on Wednesday.
Data collected from IQAir showed that the city had an average AQI of 208, which falls under the extremely unhealthy category. It said that the PM2.5 concentration in Lahore is currently 26.6 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value. The highest AQI in the city was recorded in Sunder Raiwind where it was 477 while Polo Ground Cantt recorded 332.
Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department said continental winds are prevailing in most areas. He has predicted that the weather will remain cold and dry in most parts of the country. Smog/fog is likely to prevail over isolated plains of Punjab and upper Sindh during morning/night hours.
On Wednesday, the minimum temperature was recorded in Leh, where the mercury dropped to minus 09 degrees Celsius, while in Lahore it was 12.2 degrees Celsius and the maximum was 26.5 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, Senior Provincial Minister Maryam Aurangzeb said that all the relevant institutions in Punjab are in a state of war for the last eight months to eliminate the effects of smog and climate change.
Speaking to The News here on Wednesday, he said that he recently met with the Asian Development Bank delegation led by Emma XIaoqin to discuss smog-related regulations, action, technology, infrastructure, mid-term, long-term. And other issues were discussed in detail. Short term plans were made.
“Under the multi-sectoral action plan, there is a strong crackdown on violation of smog rules, the Environment Protection Department has been equipped with technology for monitoring,” he said, with support from the World Bank, we added. Worked on the E-Mass Transit program, six AQI monitors have been installed for smog calculations while 30 monitors were in the pipeline.
‘There is a strong focus on technology and interventions. We are sending our people to Beijing to study smog and we are also studying smog scientifically. Talking about local issues related to smog, he said that we have to introduce our expertise. He said that 1000 Super Seeders have been given to farmers at 60% subsidy to prevent burning of crops and financial and technical assistance is also being provided to factories for installation of emission control system.
Maryam Aurangzeb said that during the last eight months we have worked on smog at all levels and informed the citizens. We have to become experts on the subject at the local level as well and have started research and studies on smog in local universities.
He said that smog has been included in the curriculum of schools and educational institutions, we are on a short-term level but we are also working on long-term measures, he said that smog has become a problem not only in Lahore. Entire Punjab.
Smog observatories are being set up, plastics are being banned. For the first time, vehicle fitness certification has been made mandatory,’ he maintained. ‘Infrastructure, mapping, studies, research technology, monitoring challenges have been tackled. For the first time a dynamic and comprehensive campaign has been launched. We are moving towards bio-refinery and e-revolution,” revealed the minister.
Smog cannot be eradicated overnight, with these continuous efforts it will take us at least 10 years, the senior minister said, adding that this time due to the direction and speed of easterly winds, our smog has increased further. Punjab is grappling with 75 per cent seasonal level of cross-border smog, discussions with the Foreign Office have been initiated, he concluded.