LAHORE: Lahore has moved to 16th place among the world’s most polluted cities on the global air quality index, an improvement the Punjab government has credited to the environment-friendly measures introduced under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, according to an official statement issued on Tuesday.
The statement said the Chief Minister has directed the provincial administration to put pre-emptive measures in place well before the smog season, which is expected to set in from November, and to further strengthen the strategy that the province deployed last year. She has instructed departments to identify and control every source contributing to the spread of air pollution rather than responding once air quality has already deteriorated.
For most of the past decade, Lahore has featured at or near the top of global real-time pollution rankings during the winter months, when cooler temperatures, low wind speed and a shallow inversion layer trap particulate matter close to the ground. A 16th-place position, therefore, marks a notable shift in the city’s standing, although such indices fluctuate daily and reflect conditions at the time of measurement rather than a settled annual average.
Meteorological experts cited in the statement said the minor variations recorded in the air quality index in Lahore, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan and other districts of Punjab are linked to shifts in the direction of strong winds blowing in from India. They added that rainfall expected in Lahore next week could help bring pollution levels down further.
The same experts explained that changes in wind speed and humidity alter the concentration of pollutants suspended in the atmosphere, which is why index readings rise and fall across short periods. On the Chief Minister’s directives, they noted, implementation of all standard operating procedures introduced during last year’s anti-smog season has been tightened further.
A central plank of the enforcement drive concerns agricultural waste. The Chief Minister has directed the Punjab administration and the relevant departments to ensure that crop residue is disposed of through modern machinery and that field burning is prevented. Rice stubble burning across Punjab’s agricultural belt has long been identified by air quality researchers as a seasonal contributor to the region’s particulate load.
She has also ordered effective measures against the burning of plastic and the use of plastic-based products, citing the risk such practices pose to human life.
Monitoring of brick kilns has been intensified on the Chief Minister’s instructions, with accelerated action against kilns that have not converted to zigzag technology, a firing method that improves combustion efficiency and reduces emissions compared with conventional fixed-chimney kilns.
Authorities have additionally been directed to strengthen inspection of restaurants and barbecue outlets that contribute to air pollution through smoke emissions.
Strict inspection of heavy and light vehicles entering Lahore is already under way, with a particular focus on emissions checks. The Chief Minister has further ordered continuous monitoring of motorcycle emissions within the city and action against vehicles found adding to pollution levels.
Enforcement is being supported by an expanded monitoring architecture. According to the statement, surveillance through Safe City cameras, thermal imaging and advanced AI-based systems has been enhanced to track emission sources across the city.
Appealing for public participation, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said that during the three-month smog season the administration and the public would together “set a new example of success.”
The coming eight weeks will serve as the practical test of the pre-emptive model. Enforcement volumes against non-compliant kilns, the availability of super-seeders and other residue-management machinery for smallholder farmers, and the consistency of vehicle emission checks at entry points are the indicators most likely to determine whether the improved ranking holds once winter conditions arrive.
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