Lahore tops list of world’s most polluted cities with AQI 241

LAHORE : With an AQI touching the mark of 241, the provincial capital remained on top of the world’s top ten most polluted cities on Saturday.

Though the traffic on the city roads was very low due to blockage of entry and exit points of the city, the skies were hazy and one can’t get pleasant feelings while travelling.

Data collected from IQAir, Lahore was ranked first with 241 AQI, Delhi, India was second with an AQI of 224 and Tashkent, Uzbekistan was third with an AQI of 177.

The rest of the top ten cities were Dhaka, Bangladesh (172), Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina (161), Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (159), Wuhan, China (159), Mumbai, India (159), Hanoi, Vietnam (158) and Yangon, Myanmar (155).

Environmental experts said PM2.5 concentrations in Lahore was currently 33.2 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value and again warned the government to continue anti-smog restrictions to keep the situation under control.

They also warned the citizens to continue using face masks, avoid unnecessary outdoor trips and other anti-smog measures. In Lahore, as per IQAir data, the most polluted place was around CERP Office where the AQI was recorded as 376 and the second place where AQI crossed 300 was around Pakistan Engineering Services (Pvt) Ltd. Where the AQI was recorded as 352.

Other important places/area where the AQI was over 200 included Kickstart Co-Working Spaces (292), Syed Maratib Ali Road (281), Ghazi Road Interchange (270), VTS (269), WWF-PAKISTAN (264), US Consulate (249), Valancia Town Lahore (243), LAS Lahore (241), Phase8-DHA (236), Askari 10 (231), Climate Finance Pakistan HQ (228), University of Management and Technology (221) and Revenue Employees Coop Housing Society (218). The localities where AQI was below 200 were Block A, Johar Town (194) and Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam (178).

Meanwhile, MET officials said continental air was prevailing over most parts of the country while a shallow westerly wave was likely to affect upper part of the country.

They predicted that cold and dry weather was expected in most parts of the country. Smog/fog (in patches) was likely to prevail in plain areas of Punjab and upper Sindh during morning/night hours.

Saturday’s lowest minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped down to -06°C while in Lahore it was 13.4°C and maximum was 25°C.