Worsening air quality prompts emergency measures.  Primary schools to remain shut for one week.  Government urges citizens to stay indoors.  Half of office employees to work from home.  Marriyum says easterly winds from Indian cities pushing polluted air into Lahore.

LAHORE  -  Unprecedented air pollution levels in country’s second-largest city of Lahore prompted authorities to take emergency measures on Sunday, including issuing work-from-home mandates and closing primary schools. The city held the top spot on a real-time list of the world’s most polluted cities on Sunday after recording its highest ever pollution reading of 1900 near the Pakistan-India border on Saturday, based on data released by the provincial government and Swiss group IQAir.

The government has shut primary schools for a week in the city, advising parents to ensure children wear masks, said Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb during a press conference, as a thick blanket of smog enveloped the city.

Citizens have been urged to stay indoors, keep doors and windows shut, and avoid unnecessary travel, she said, adding that hospitals had been given smog counters.

To reduce vehicle pollution, 50 percent of office employees would work from home, said Aurangzeb.

The government has also imposed a ban on three-wheelers known as rickshaws and halted construction in certain areas to reduce the pollution levels. Factories and construction sites failing to comply with these regulations could be shut down, she said. Aurangzeb described the situation as “unexpected” and attributed the deterioration in air quality to winds carrying pollution from neighbouring India.

“This cannot be solved without talks with India,” she said, adding the provincial government would initiate talks with its neighbour through Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

The smog crisis in Lahore, similar to the situation in India’s capital Delhi, tends to worsen during cooler months due to temperature inversion trapping pollution closer to the ground.

Aurangzeb addressing the worsening smog situation during a press conference, explained that easterly winds coming from India were pushing air from Amritsar and Chandigarh into Lahore.

This has caused the city’s air quality index (AQI) to spike close to 1000 over the past two days. Aurangzeb noted that since the air speeds up while crossing the eastern corridor and then stagnates over Lahore, it intensifies the pollution already present in the city, creating critically high AQI levels in the morning, which gradually decrease to below 200 by midday. Further deterioration of AQI is expected in the coming week.

Due to these factors, all private and public educational institutions, from playgroup to grade five, will remain closed from November 4 onward. This includes private schools, which are also mandated to comply. Authorities will use the week to conduct research, mapping, and studies to reassess and determine if extended school closures are needed. Preparations for two additional “green lockdowns” are also underway.

The minister emphasized that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has mobilized all departments over the past eight months to reduce smog, adhering to a set timeline. Farmers are being provided with 1,000 super-seeders at a 60 percent subsidy, with a goal to supply 5,000 in total. These machines are also available on a rental basis at the union council level to discourage farmers from burning rice crop residue.

Aurangzeb noted that unlike COVID-19, which spread through air travel, smog enters through cross-border wind corridors, carrying pollution from neighboring areas and combining with local emissions. The chief minister will be reaching out to India via diplomatic channels to address the issue, urging critics to avoid politicizing what she described as a matter of generational survival. The government is actively implementing its own measures, including the closure of 550 kilns, shutdown of factories, and suspension of construction activities that fail to comply with SOPs. Vehicles emitting excessive smoke are also being impounded. Artificial rain technology is under development but currently lacks sufficient clouds for deployment.

The senior minister also stated that regular road sprinkling is underway, and the Environmental Protection Department has been restructured, increasing human resources, monitoring, and capacity. Plans are in place to introduce an electric mass transport system. Aurangzeb appealed to farmers to refrain from burning crop residue and adopt super-seeder technology. She urged the public to ensure their vehicles are fit, use quality fuel, avoid burning garbage, wear masks, and keep children and the elderly indoors with windows and doors closed. Any smoke-related issues should be reported to helpline 1373.

Meanwhile, Punjab Police, in a bid to combat smog and protect the environment, said strict actions are ongoing against those burning and stubble and crop residues in various districts, including Lahore. In the last 24 hours, 22 cases were registered for violating smog SOPs, resulting in the arrest of individuals, fines for 5 others, and surety bonds collected from 3,925 individuals.

Sharing details of overall crackdown this year, Punjab Police spokesperson said that a total of 758 cases were registered against violators responsible for causing smog by setting fires to stubble and crop residues and other sites. Across various districts, including Lahore, 607 individuals were arrested for violating SOPs, with 282 individuals fined and 3,925 individuals required to submit surety bonds. In the provincial capital, 24 individuals were arrested as part of the anti-smog crackdown, with 17 cases registered and surety bonds collected from 7 individuals in Lahore. IG Punjab Dr. Usman Anwar directed an intensified crackdown against smog on highways, industrial areas, and other locations, He stressed that operations against high smoke emission vehicles should be strengthened through Safe City camera monitoring. IG Punjab instructed that a zero-tolerance policy be enforced against factory and kiln owners involved in burning crop residue, garbage, and other violations.