LAHORE: Dense smog continued to affect life and disrupt air, rail and road traffic in the plains of Punjab on Tuesday amidst reports that it will gradually lessen due to rain and low temperatures in the upper parts of the country next week.

Rain would nevertheless enhance fog that is persisting over upper Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and south Punjab, said the Pakistan Meteorological Department in its weather forecast.

Environment Secretary Saif Anjum said reduction in the incidence of crop residue burning in Indian Punjab and slight change in the wind’s direction further reduced the intensity of smog in Lahore and its adjoining cities.

He said this after the Punjab chief secretary conducted a meeting on the issue, asking secretaries of all departments concerned to continue taking strict measures to minimise local contribution to smog caused by air pollution.

Chief Meteorologist Ajmal Shad said a weak westerly system was expected to give rain over the upper parts of the country and at the most in Rawalpindi division next week. But the accompanying wind and expected low temperatures would gradually reduce smog in Punjab, further thickening fog nevertheless.

Thick smog or fog had developed over Lahore and other cities in Punjab, KP and Sindh’s Sukkur areas early Monday night, immediately disrupting rail, road and air traffic.

Lahore airport was closed down immediately after thick fog reduced visibility to zero at around 9pm. It was opened in the morning, cancelling all incoming and outgoing flights in the meantime. PIA officials said smog or fog affected flight schedule at all airports in Punjab.

They said because of the weather conditions, flights had either to be diverted to other airports or rescheduled.

A flight from Sialkot and another from Faisalabad left for their foreign destinations from Lahore airport on Tuesday. The passengers had to travel to Lahore by road.

Motorway remained close to all traffic from Pindi Bhattian to Faisalabad, Khanewal to Multan and Lahore to Kot Momin due to extremely poor visibility.

Similarly, the G T Road from Peshawar to Lahore and the National Highway from Lahore to Sadiqabad too remained fog-bound, making travel extremely difficult and risky, Motorway and National Highways Authority Spokesman Imran Shah said.

He said the authority staff had been advising motorists to drive slow and in queues to avoid accidents.

Meanwhile, Mr Shah again reported closure of the Motorway from Pindi Bhattian to Faisalabad at 8pm on Tuesday. It was also closed from Faisalabad to Gojra and from Lahore to Kot Momin due to thick fog.

Pakistan railways authorities said the speed of almost all trains operating in Punjab had to be kept considerably slow to avoid accidents, causing a lot of problems to the passengers.

PIA spokesman said fog was expected to prevail during the next few days and the airline had to adjust the timings of its flights which could not be operated in the unsafe aviation conditions.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2017