LAHORE (The Thursday Times) — Air from India reached about half of Punjab in the 24 hours after Diwali and pushed up fine-particle pollution across the province, the Punjab Environment Protection Agency has said, as Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb urged that smog be kept out of politics.
“Smog is not a political issue. It is a scientific, environmental and public health challenge,” Aurangzeb told a press conference in Lahore on Wednesday, as Lahore, Multan, and other cities remained under thick haze.
Lahore was again at the top of global rankings of polluted major cities on Wednesday night, with an air quality index of 358, after readings of nearly 600 earlier in the week.
What the agency found
The agency’s analysis of air movement, satellite observations, and monitoring data for November 8 to 10 found that air masses originating in India covered nearly 50% of Punjab over the preceding 24 hours, and 39% over 12 hours from 6am on November 9.
Its trajectory modelling showed that air released across the border on Diwali night could reach Lahore from Amritsar in about two hours, Multan in around 11 hours, and Faisalabad in 12. Fine-particle (PM2.5) levels at the agency’s Wagah border station rose by 275%, peaking between 3am and 4am, while the Safari Park station in the west of the city recorded a 15% rise.
Lahore’s index climbed from 366 on November 8 to 440 at 9am on November 9, according to the agency. Punjab’s environment protection secretary, Salwat Saeed, said aerosol readings over both Lahore and Amritsar supported the finding that polluted air had crossed the border.
The agency did not say cross-border pollution was the only cause. Local emissions and the weather also shaped air quality, it said, and Aurangzeb listed winds from India, Diwali fireworks, crop-residue burning, low temperatures, and slow wind speeds among the factors behind the spikes.
Claims of progress at home
Aurangzeb said visits to primary healthcare centres for respiratory, chest, and throat complaints had fallen by 69% compared with 2023, and by 21% at secondary hospitals, citing government data.
She said 9,000 industrial units had installed systems to monitor smoke emissions, 14,000 brick kilns had moved to cleaner zigzag technology, 59 industrial air-quality monitors were now running, and six million vehicles had been issued fitness certificates. Crop-stubble burning had fallen by up to 27% across the province and by 85% around Lahore, she said.
The first half of November is the most critical period for smog, she said, as temperature inversions, humidity, and weak sunlight trap pollutants near the ground. Punjab is carrying out a 10-year action plan, and the minister appealed to citizens, farmers, and industry to cooperate.
The province has kept schools open this week despite the haze, ruling out extra smog holidays, while New Delhi has faced its own post-Diwali pollution emergency.
