In LAHORE, The Punjab school education department (SED) has yet again set to shut down all public and private colleges for 2 days because the air quality within the provincial capital and abutting districts surpassed venturesome levels.
A notification issued by the govt declared, “In the wake of dense smog, public and private schools operative
among the territorial limits of city, urban center and Gujranwala districts can stay closed on November 15 [today] and 16 [tomorrow]”.
Official knowledge discharged by the Punjab environment Protection Department (EPD) graded air quality within the urban center among the moderate vary throughout the past twenty four hours; the air quality index (AQI) was recorded as 236.
However, the numbers showed a bleaker situation in northern areas of the city. In Wagha, an AQI of 422 was reported throughout the same amount.
Similarly, knowledge from AirVisual, a worldwide air watching large, shows that air quality in city has deteriorated over the past few weeks. The region particulate reading for town has been recorded as over 160 microgrammes per metre cubed.
This means is that the city’s atmosphere is saturated with fine particles that tend to stay around within the air for a extended time, increasing the probabilities of them being inhaled by humans and animals.
Because of their minute size, particles smaller than two.5 micrometres are ready to penetrate deep into the lungs and will even enter the circulatory system.
Jehangir Khan, an environmental somebody watching the environment in several areas of Punjab, highlighted that the air quality readings of various cities within the province are nearly thrice higher than what's thought of to be safe.
“Because of poor social control of environmental laws and therefore the loose perspective of our industries, the air quality of all industrial, industrial cities and concrete centres is worse than that of the remainder of the province,” he said. He explained that burning of wood, coal, crop residue and tyres could be a major supply of atmospheric particulate, that contributes to air pollution and other forms of pollution. “Cement and steel mills and brick kilns are major contributors of environmental pollution in Punjab,” he said.
It is Because of inadequate and poor implementation and social control of environmental laws, most industries are ready to flee with burning tyres, textile and animal waste throughout the night that masks the pollution. “Another major contributor is that the great amount of auto presently on the roads, particularly in urban centres,” he said.
Lahore Division Commissioner Asif Bilal Lodhi underlined that air pollution has become a significant challenge for urban cities like city, Kasur, Nankana sahib and Sheikhupura. He expressed the necessity for a remedial and preventive strategy against air pollution. Further, he directed the setting, traffic police, information and transport department moreover as district administrations to place their energies towards curbing smogginess and raising awareness among the plenty.
He claimed that up till currently, 12 environment groups were operating beneath the anti-smog campaign in Lahore. However, currently thirty six groups are active in Lahore from Thursday. groups will also check vehicles coming into the city at midnight. The traffic police and every one 18 zonal officers of the Metropolitan Corporation city also will assist them, he added.
A policy has been adopted on burning crop remains and emissions from brick kilns, vehicles and industrial units. He stated that the crackdown against brick kilns that haven't been shifted to zigzag technology can continue.
.jpg)
