Lahore chokes under extreme air pollution as AQI surpasses 1000

Lahore's Air Quality Index (AQI) surpassed a dangerous level of 1000 on Saturday morning despite Punjab government's efforts to mitigate the impact of polluted winds through green lockdowns and crackdowns on smoke-emitting industries and vehicles.

 Lahore’s air was recorded extremely worse, with 1,067 AQI at 9:30am in the morning. 

Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the intense smog is expected to persist in Lahore for the next 48 days.

She stressed the need for caution among individuals, especially people with diseases related to chest, heart, and respiratory.

Apart from this, health experts warned that the deteriorating air quality prevailed due to the burning of crop waste in Pakistan and India.

The Punjab government said it had offered farmers alternatives to stubble burning, but Khalid Khokar, the president of the Farmer Association, refused the offer and said, “More than 10 million farmers live and work in Punjab, we need cheapest alternatives, for a while burning the crop is the cheapest option.”

As the problem became too pervasive, it prompted the government of Punjab to address the issue via 'smog diplomacy' with India. 

The issue was leaving a severe impact on health, a report of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago stated that pollution is the biggest health threat in India and Pakistan, with residents of Dehli and Lahore losing years of life owing to the effects of it.  

Over the border, India’s capital Dehli, was also shrouded in the annual smog cover.