Aslam expresses distrust on air quality data provided by private sources

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has said the air quality data provided by private sources was not up to the mark hence their data is not accurate and reliable.

Addressing a conference in Islamabad, Aslam criticized the non-calibrated air quality data provided by private sources and faulty satellite imagery depicting Pakistan the second most polluted country in the world with alarming ratios of serious air pollutants.

“The satellite imagery is not complying with the ground reality and also the gadgets used by privately managed air quality monitoring are cheap and not up to the mark hence their data is not accurate and reliable,” he was quoted as saying by the APP.

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Amin said that it was high to realize the level of pollution we were bearing with, however vehicular emissions left at large, unrestrained industrialization and brick kilns were spewing dark emissions were the major perpetrators of bad quality air.

Pakistan Clean Air Programme (PCAP), he said was a very ambitious project which was deferred after 18th amendment which if had got implemented then the present day smog and polluted ambient situation would have been avoided.

He said that the country did not collect 60 percent of its solid waste which was ultimately dumped openly whereas 90 percent of its liquid waste was flushed untreated into the major water streams and reservoirs creating formidable repercussions.