Lahore’s air pollution eases; city drops down to third in AQI index

LAHORE: Air pollution in Lahore finally eased. Punjab’s provincial capital has dropped to number third on the list of the world’s most polluted cities.

In Pakistan, Lahore remains the most polluted, but in the overall World AQI index, cities in Bangladesh and India surpassed Lahore’s pollution.

According to details shared by the Punjab Environment Protection Department, the average ratio of smog in Lahore was recorded at 215 percent.

Air quality of Lahore’s Sharah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Mall Road remained hazardous after being recorded at 362, 403 and 400, respectively.  The people have been advised to use facemasks while leaving their homes.

Punjab health dept issues alert for possible spread of Nipah virus

The AQI is calculated based on 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 the AQI over 300 is termed extremely toxic.

According to experts, an increase in air pollution used to be recorded 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 a city. – INP