Deteriorating air quality

Breathing in big cities of the world is increasingly becoming injurious to health. Recently, Karachi earned the dubious distinction of being the most polluted city of the world, with Lahore and Delhi occupying the second and third positions, respectively, on the list. On Wednesday morning, the port city ranked first on a global Air Quality Index (AQI) as the AQI stood at 331, a level considered extremely harmful. At the same time, in Lahore this was recorded at 280. By 11 am, the AQI in Karachi had come down to 221, which is considered harmful. An AQI of 151-200 is unhealthy; more unhealthy when ranging from 201 to 300 and highly hazardous above 300. Around this time on the same day, Bulgaria’s capital city, Sophia, was at the top of the list of the most polluted cities of the world, followed by Delhi, Lahore and Karachi.

As a matter of fact the air quality in most cities of Pakistan has been deteriorating over the years, with Lahore, Karachi, and Faisalabad being the worst affected. Every year, the air quality starts to deteriorate from September-October and this continues up to February-end. Unfortunately, actions needed to control the air quality are not much in evidence. Industries burning coal and tyres, brick-kilns operating without safety measures in place against air pollution, putting on fire crop residue on farms to save on expenses, and burning of garbage in the open are mainly contributing to the growing air pollution. In April this year, a noticeable improvement in air quality in Karachi had been noticed, though it was in the main the result of a strict lockdown then in force in the city.

This winter the deteriorating quality of air is posing an unprecedented danger to public health because of the coronavirus pandemic, so there was the need for strict enforcement of environmental laws. Things have been left on autopilot for long. This is usual, but ridiculous.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2020.

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