Peshawar to have air quality monitors

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said air pollution and climate change are the two largest public health issues in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He revealed this while talking to Pakistan’s leading environmentalist and lawyer Ahmad Rafey Alam who met him here, said a handout. The chief minister said significant changes need to be implemented to have a strong impact on reducing air pollution rates. The government has already made efforts through the KP’s Green Growth Initiative and the Billion Tree Tsunami afforestation project, but still more requires to be done to curb the air pollution and climate change.

The chief minister said the provincial government has decided to install air quality monitors in Peshawar and other districts of the province affected by air pollution. He said that despite prevailing challenges, ensuring clean air is one of the government’s job, and the government is very clear about taking measures to improve air quality in Peshawar and the province as a whole.

Ahmad Rafey Alam extended full support to the government in providing his expertise for reducing air pollution in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said, among the many environmental challenges faced by the urban areas of the country, air quality is especially difficult to manage. The negative impacts of pollution include elevated risk of cardiovascular problems like heart diseases, stroke and acute diseases. Rafey Alam said installing air quality monitors would distinguish between areas where pollutant levels violate an ambient air quality standard and areas where they do not.

Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra thanked Ahmad Rafey Alam for visiting Peshawar stating that besides environmental protection agencies, the government is taking solid measures to control air pollution.