LAHORE: Lahore continues to remain as the most-polluted city of the world in terms of its air quality in the morning on Friday.

According to the data from IQAir, an air quality monitoring platform, Lahore’s Air Quality Index (AQI) soared to a staggering ‘hazardous’ level of 509 in the early hours of the day, once again ranking it as one of the most-polluted cities in the world.

Air pollution in Lahore is caused by a combination of vehicle and industrial emissions, smoke from brick kilns, the burning of crop residue and general waste, and dust from construction sites. Other factors of air pollution include large scale losses of trees to build new roads and buildings.

Winter air pollution is worse due to temperature inversion, which results in a layer of warm air that is prevented from rising trapping air pollutants.

However, Senior Provincial Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb who addressed a Climate Change and Green Mobility Summit at UMT Lahore, said that Punjab has made exceptional progress this year in smog control, clean air management, and green technology.

She stated that timely compensation was provided to flood-affected families and for the first time, smog and AQI monitoring has been shifted entirely to a scientific system. Pakistan’s first modern AQI monitoring and forecast system has been established in Punjab, operating 24/7 to provide real-time data and alerts to citizens. All 41 monitoring stations in the province are geo-tagged and GIS-mapped, while the Smog War Room and Green Building Model are fully functional in Lahore.

She said that citizens are no longer just critics; they are now partnering with the government to control smog. To combat smog formed by the combination of fog and smoke, multi-sectoral, technology-driven and data-based measures are being implemented. For the first time, a comprehensive vehicle fitness and certification regime has been introduced in the transport sector. Strict checking of old vehicles is underway, and thousands of vehicles have already been certified under the vehicle testing policy. New e-bikes and e-rickshaws have been introduced, and it is now mandatory to establish a charging station at every new petrol pump. Currently, 666 vehicles are active in smog control operations, and this number will soon increase to 1,100.

Marriyum said that despite eastern winds blowing in from the Indian border, strong control over local emissions led to significant improvement in AQI this year.

She noted that no brick kiln in Punjab is now “off-map”; all kilns have shifted to modern zig-zag technology with white smoke ensured, and all illegal pyrolysis units have been completely shut down. Zero-tolerance continues for industries, kilns, and factories, and in Faisalabad, an EPA officer was caught taking a bribe and immediately suspended with action initiated under the Peeda Act.

She said that crop-burning incidents decreased by 65pc this year due to the government’s efforts to provide super seeders to farmers at a 60pc subsidy. With Suparco’s support, drone surveillance, quick-response squads, and field monitoring remain active round the clock, and every kiln and factory chimney is continuously tracked. In Lahore, 15 smog guns remain operational, and a short smog-gun operation in Kahna showed a significant drop in AQI within minutes.

She added that the garbage mounds at Mahmood Booti have been transformed into a green park under the Waste-to-Green model, while 300,000kg of plastic has been seized under the “Plastic-Free Punjab” campaign and are now being converted into recycled furniture. Urban forestry has been carried out on 2,500 acres, and plantation continues along canals, railway lines, and major roads. A dedicated AQI and Smog Management App has also been launched so every citizen can access real-time air quality, alerts, and precautionary guidelines.

She said this is the first year that Punjab did not experience hazardous-level smog. Twenty-four days remained clean, smog-related hospital cases dropped by 50pc schools and businesses stayed open, and the motorway did not close even for a single day — a success made possible by joint efforts of the state and the public.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2025