LAHORE: Lahore on Wednesday topped the list of most polluted cities in the world with the worst hazardous air quality levels.

Kyrgyzstan’s Bishkek is on second on the list, India’s Delhi and Kolkata are third and fourth while Karachi is the fifth city, according to air pollution data released by the US Air Quality Index.

The city recorded a particulate matter (PM) rating of 327 that classifies the city under the “hazardous” category of air quality.

Individual areas of Lahore fared worse, with Kot Lakhpat (industrial area) crossing over 400, Fatehgarh housing most of the steel melting industry, and other areas close to 400 AQI.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency regards air quality as satisfactory if the AQI is under 50.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) released a monthly report about its measures to control smog.

The PDMA collected Rs38 million fine from different sectors — transport department (Rs21m), traffic police (Rs7m), local government department (Rs578,600), environment department/district administration (Rs2m) and agriculture department/district administration on stubble burning Rs2.96m.

The PDMA also registered 1,773 cases on the different types of violations and also arrested 116 people.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2021