Lahore tops world’s most polluted cities

LAHORE:The provincial metropolis once again ranked top in the list of the world’s most polluted cities as the average AQI reached 450, which came into the category of hazardous.

Data collected from the IQAir, the city’s AQI crossed 700 on Thursday while the PM2.5 concentration was 60.1 times the World Health Organisation annual PM2.5 guideline value. The most polluted city areas included Polo Ground Cantt (734), Burki Road (724), DHA phase V (601), Mini Market Gulberg (593), Thokar (583), Askari 10 (579), Bedian Road (573) and Hiking & Mountaineering Club GCU (547).

On the international list, Delhi became second with an AQI of 298 and Tehran was third with the AQI of 193. Rest of the top ten countries included Cairo, Egypt (192), Dhaka, Bangladesh (188), Hanoi, Vietnam (187), Kampala, Uganda (167), Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (162), Baghdad, Iraq (154) and Kolkata, India (153).

Meanwhile, the city witnessed a sunny but cold day. Met office said continental air was prevailing over most areas of the country while a shallow westerly wave may affect upper parts of the country from tomorrow night. They predicted that mainly cold and dry weather was expected in most parts of the country while very cold in hilly areas during morning/night hours. Moderate to dense fog (in patches) was likely in northeast Punjab, while shallow to moderate in south Punjab and upper Sindh during morning/night hours. Rain wind/thunderstorm was expected in southeastern Punjab during night hours. Thursday’s minimum temperature was recorded at Leh where mercury dropped down to -13°C while in Lahore it was 5°C and maximum was 18°C.