Polluted winds from India are causing smog in Pakistan: Marriyum Aurangzeb

LAHORE: “Polluted winds coming from India are affecting the atmosphere of Lahore”, said Senior Minister of Punjab Marriyum Aurangzeb.

She said that burning of crop residue in India has increased air pollution. “AQI is changing due to winds coming from India,” she added.

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The minister informed that smog status is being released on Green App of Punjab Government, adding that a war room has been set up in the Environment Protection Agency which is functioning around the clock.

“Monitoring and clean-up operations are also ongoing,” Aurangzeb said, adding, “People should strictly follow precautionary measures to avoid the effects of smog”.

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The minister said that for the first time, preparations were being made for the past eight months to prevent smog. The ban on plastic bags is also linked with smog control measures.

“The smog situation in Lahore yesterday was unexpected. In Defense and frontier areas of the city, the index went up to 1900. Earlier smog was a problem only in October,” she said.

When the air flow from India stopped, the air quality index also went down, said Aurangzeb. “Winds came to Pakistan from Chandigarh, Haryana, Bathinda and Gurdaspur, as well as from Sri Ganganagar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar”.

The minister added that the smog problem cannot be solved without dialogue with India. In Pakistan, there is a ban on construction work within the green ring, as well as on running commercial generators within one kilometer of Shimla hill, Aurangzeb informed.

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The minister said that the situation was bad enough to keep the primary schools closed for a week in the province. Both the government and private schools will remain closed for a week, she said.

Elaborating the precautionary measures, she said that if the construction sector does not follow SOPs, the violating sites will be closed.