Lahore returns to top of world's most polluted cities list

LAHORE: Polluted air brought Lahore on the top of the most polluted cities of the world on Sunday, posing threat to the public health.

The Air Quality Index recorded 269 reading in Lahore today with wind speed five kilometers per hour. The air quality could improve with increase in the speed of wind in the city to 11 kilometers per hour in the noon, officials said.

The AQI reading recorded 183 in Faisalabad, 177 in Rahim Yar Khan, 174 in Gujranwala and 172 in Bahawalpur in the province.

Air pollution and smog causes breathing problems, irritation in eyes and souring throats, health experts said.

The experts have advised citizens to avoid unnecessarily going out of homes.

Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb has said that the weather conditions could not be controlled but controlling local sources of pollution has been our responsibility. She said that no leniency being shown to control local sources of pollution.

Provincial minister urged farmers to avoid burning of remainder of crops, “Citizens shall avoid to create smoke and be carefull about the environment”.

The air pollution and smog haunts Punjab with the onset of the winter. In previous years authorities made desperate efforts to contain smog in cities. The province grappled with severe air pollution, which soared to alarming levels, causing serious public health issues.

For days, Lahore was enveloped by smog, a mix of fog and pollutants, caused by low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal agricultural burning as temperatures drop with cooling air.

Air pollution level in Lahore, once soared to more than 80 times of the level deemed hygienic by the World Health Organization (WHO).