Lahore's air quality remains hazardous with 581 AQI reading

LAHORE: Lahore keeps its top rank in the most polluted cities of the planet today with overall air quality index (AQI) reading 581 on Sunday morning.

Lahore has been on the top of the hazardous air quality list in the world.

According to the website, the areas surrounding the DHA have most polluted air as 1754 air quality reading recorded in DHA Phase 8. The air pollution reading remained 1258 in Gulbarg and 1404 in the vicinity of Askari 10.

AQI reading reported 493 at Mall Road and 529 recorded at Shimla Pahari vicinity.

Smog in Lahore causing serious health problems for residents toiling in polluted air and reported to have breathing difficulties, coughing and burning eyes.

Health experts have advised general public to use glasses and masks to avoid adverse impact of the dangerously unhealthy air.

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

Lahore had the worst air quality of 1,067 at 9:30 in the morning on Saturday, according to the Swiss air quality watchdog’s real-time list of most polluted cities in the world, despite provincial government’s desperate attempts to fight off smog.

Air pollution in Lahore soared on Saturday more than 80 times over the level deemed acceptable by the World Health Organization (WHO), AFP said in a report.

The level of deadly PM2.5 pollutants — fine particulate matter in the air that causes the most damage to health — peaked at 1,067, before dropping to around 300 in the morning, with anything above 10 considered unhealthy by the WHO.

“We have never reached a level of 1,000,” Jahangir Anwar, a senior environmental protection official in Lahore told AFP.

For days, Lahore has been enveloped by smog, a mix of fog and pollutants caused by low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal agricultural burning and winter cooling.

“The air quality index will remain high for the next three to four days,” Anwar said.

On Wednesday, the provincial environmental protection agency announced new restrictions in four “hot spots” in the city.

Tuk-tuks equipped with polluting two-stroke engines are banned, as are restaurants that barbecue without filters.

Government offices and private companies will have half their staff work from home from Monday.

Construction work has been halted and street and food vendors, who often cook over open fires, must close at 8 pm.

Smog is particularly pronounced in winter, when cold, denser air traps emissions from poor-quality fuels used to power the city’s vehicles and factories at ground level.