Lahore hit an Air Quality Index reading of 1,900 on Saturday, the highest the city has ever recorded, near the Pakistan-India border. Provincial government data and the Swiss group IQAir put it at the top of a real-time list of the world’s most polluted cities on Sunday.
Officials in Pakistan’s second-largest city responded by ordering schools shut for a week from Monday. The closure covers nursery through grade 5, and it runs until November 9. Montessori, playgroup and primary schools up to Grade 5 are all affected, said Marriyum Aurangzeb, Punjab’s senior minister. The Environmental Protection Agency said a decision on extending the holiday will come on November 9.
What officials ordered
Aurangzeb told a news conference that parents should make sure children wear masks. Half of office employees are to work from home to cut vehicle pollution. Authorities also banned rickshaws and halted construction in certain areas, and warned that factories and construction sites that break the rules could be shut. Hospitals have received smog counters and been told to prepare for emergencies. People are advised to stay indoors with doors and windows closed.
The city has already put a “green lockdown” in place in several areas. Police this year arrested more than 1,000 people and registered over 1,300 cases tied to smog violations. Officials impounded more than 152,000 vehicles for substandard fitness and suspended nearly 10,000 vehicle fitness certificates over excessive emissions.
Who gets the blame
Aurangzeb called the situation “unexpected” and put the rise in pollution down to winds carrying smog from neighbouring India. “Because the direction of the wind from India is towards Lahore,” she said, the schools were given a week off. She added that the problem “cannot be solved without talks with India,” and said the provincial government would approach New Delhi through Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
Winter makes it worse. Cold, dense air traps vehicle and factory emissions near the ground, where they mix with smoke from seasonal crop burning. Health experts warn that long exposure to pollution at these levels can cause strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory illness. Delhi faces a similar smog crisis.
Sources
- World's most polluted city has an AQI of 1,900. It is not in India
- Pakistan's Lahore shuts schools as air pollution reaches record levels
