Slow winds carrying smoke from crop fires across the border pushed Lahore back into hazardous air and Faisalabad to 540, as experts warn that illegal tree felling is quietly making Punjab’s pollution worse.
LAHORE: Lahore’s air turned hazardous again on Tuesday, with the air quality index reaching 312, as slow north-easterly winds carried smoke from crop burning across the border and trapped pollution close to the ground. Faisalabad recorded a reading of 540, according to the state news agency APP.
Gujranwala recorded 371, Multan 364 and Bahawalpur 250. Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said outdoor activities had been banned in all educational institutions, and medical experts urged citizens to wear masks and take precautions.
The reading marks a sharp reversal from the weekend, when cooler westerly winds briefly cut the city’s average to 172. On Monday afternoon, Lahore ranked second among the world’s most polluted major cities on IQAir’s live tracker, and last week Iqbal Town recorded an AQI of 342.
Why the polluted air turned again
Low-speed winds from the north-north-east, blowing at 4 to 9 kilometres per hour, were carrying air into Lahore and central Punjab from the farmland of eastern Punjab and Haryana in India, APP said. Crop residue burning in those areas has increased in recent days, and at such low wind speeds the particles settle near the ground instead of dispersing.
Forecasters expect air quality to average between 230 and 280 on the AQI scale in the coming days, still in the unhealthy range.
Cross-border smoke is only part of the problem. Studies of Lahore’s own emissions have long pointed to transport, industry, brick kilns, road dust and local crop burning as major contributors, and the Punjab government’s campaign is aimed at those local sources: drones and thermal imaging to catch violators, fines on smoky vehicles, a ban on dry road sweeping and open burning, and union council secretaries placed on smog watch. Anti-smog squads are active in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur and Gujranwala, APP said.
Weather: dry, cool mornings
The weather offers no relief. The Pakistan Meteorological Department expects dry weather across most of the country, and Radio Pakistan reported Lahore’s morning temperature at 18°C. Daytime highs are forecast at around 29°C to 31°C on Tuesday and Wednesday, with no rain in sight for Punjab this week. Cool, calm nights and dry days are the conditions in which smog builds.
Tuesday’s Pakistan-Sri Lanka tri-series match at Gaddafi Stadium, part of a series that moved to Lahore at the weekend, was set to be played in those conditions, adding to concerns for players and spectators.
Health experts warned of serious risks from prolonged exposure, including respiratory disease, heart conditions, cancer and premature death. The World Health Organization estimates that outdoor air pollution causes millions of premature deaths a year worldwide, most of them in low- and middle-income countries.
On the scale used by the Punjab government, readings above 300 are considered hazardous for everyone. Doctors advise people in Lahore to wear N95 masks outdoors, keep children, older people and anyone with asthma or heart disease indoors, keep windows shut during peak hours and avoid outdoor exercise. Schools have been told to encourage carpooling to cut traffic emissions. Residents can check real-time readings on the Punjab EPA dashboard and IQAir.
Trees cutting increases pollution, environment crisis
Environmental experts say a less visible driver of the crisis is the loss of trees. Illegal felling releases stored carbon, speeds up climate change and reduces the capacity of forests to absorb carbon dioxide and filter the air, they said, with knock-on effects including flooding, soil erosion and habitat loss.
Pakistan loses an estimated 27,000 hectares of forest a year to illegal logging, much of it in remote areas at night, driven by poverty, demand for timber and fuel wood, and what experts described as a powerful timber mafia. Forest cover is estimated at only about 5% of the country’s land, roughly 4.51 million hectares, with tree density averaging about 645 trees per hectare in national parks and 375 in other forests.
“Rapid tree cutting contributes to a larger climate change cycle,” said environmentalist Mahmood Khalid Qamar, linking it to more frequent and irregular weather such as the devastating floods Pakistan has suffered. Deforestation also feeds air and water pollution and soil erosion, he said. He welcomed Punjab’s plan to draw up a Forest Vision 2050, which would put conservation and ecological balance ahead of timber extraction.
Mahmood Akhtar Cheema, country representative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Pakistan, said modern technology could help increase forest cover. “The IUCN stands ready to transfer its global expertise to Pakistan,” he said, adding that community participation and awareness were critical to any forestry plan.
Forest degradation expert Mirza Sarwat Baig said enforcement was hampered by the vastness of forest areas, difficult terrain and pressure from powerful criminal actors in the timber trade. Naseem ur Rehman Shah, a former director of the Environmental Protection Department, said losing forests left the country more exposed to floods and erosion and disrupted local temperatures and weather patterns.
Wildlife experts warned that shrinking forests were destroying the habitats of endangered species, while others noted the economic value of forest products such as fruit, honey and timber to rural livelihoods.
Illegal tree losing crackdown by Punjab government
Marriyum Aurangzeb said illegal tree felling was a major cause of smog and air pollution and that the Forest Department’s operations were a key part of the province’s smog control programme. A zero-tolerance policy against the timber mafia was being enforced under the Green Punjab Mission to protect forests and plant new trees, she said.
In Lahore itself, the city’s horticulture agency has expanded flower beds by 41% ahead of the smog season, and projects such as a bamboo plantation along Atta Bakhsh Road and the restoration of the Buddha trees avenue at Bagh-e-Jinnah aim to add greenery. Environmentalists have argued that the climate fight cannot be left to the government alone.
With no rain forecast and winds expected to stay light, Lahore’s air is likely to remain unhealthy for the rest of the week. Officials hope enforcement will limit local emissions, but as long as crop fires burn on both sides of the border and the city keeps losing green cover, the smog season will keep returning, longer and thicker each year.
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