Lahore becomes most polluted city of world with worst air quality

LAHORE: Lahore remained the most polluted city of the world on Saturday as smog hovering over Punjab’s capital city in the morning, ARY News reported.

India’s capital city New Delhi ranked second in most polluted cities of the world on the Air Quality Index (AQI).

Overall reading of Lahore on the Air Quality Index measured 368 today. In some parts of the city the reading crossed 400 level on the air pollution scale.

The AQI reading at Garden Town remained 421, Gulbarg 434, Polo Ground 430 and Mall Road 407, environment department said.

“In a drive to curb smog action being taken against smog causing elements including sentences and fines,” environment department stated.

The AQI is calculated on the basis of five categories of pollution: ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide.

AQI as high as 151-200 is considered unhealthy, while an AQI rating between 201 to 300 is more harmful and over 300 is extremely toxic.

According to experts, an increase in air pollution used to be witnessed in the winter. A change in the wind speed, wind direction and sliding minimum temperature increases air pollution.

The air becomes heavier in the winter as compared to summer, causing poisonous particles in the atmosphere to move downwards and making the atmosphere polluted. As a result, a layer of polluted particles, including large amounts of carbon and smoke, covers an area.

The smoke produced by burning crop remnants, factories and burning coal, garbage, oil or tyres enters the atmosphere and the impact of this appears at the onset of winter and remains till the season’s end, experts added.