Punjab has imposed a “green lockdown” in smog-sensitive localities of Lahore, imposing restrictions on a number of things including barbecue spots, motorcycle-rickshaws, and marriage halls. However, environmental experts have criticized the measures calling it “meager and ill-planned”.
The city has been facing deteriorating pollution and seems to feature at the top of this list quite often.
Wednesday saw Lahore reach a maximum Air Quality Index (AQI) value of 588 at 3 a.m. Though the levels were various at different parts, AQI remained beneath 200 between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. It had further decreased to 177 by 8 p.m, recording some improvement from previous days.
Affected Areas and What Residents Need to Know
Marriyum Aurangzeb, Punjab’s senior minister, announced in the Punjab Assembly that 11 areas in Lahore have been identified as hot-spots for smog and the green lockdown will start from Thursday.
An official notification was issued by the Director General of the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Imran Hamid Sheikh, in which he listed high-risk roads, including Davis Road, Egerton Road, Durand Road, among others.
The lockdown will ban any form of construction within one kilometer of Shimla Hill, ban commercial generators and Qingqi motorcycle rickshaws, prohibit open barbecue activities after 8 p.m. Cuisines using coal or charcoal or wood without efficient emission controls must also be closed. Marquees and marriages halls must close at 10 p.m. In addition, the LWMC is going to carry out only wet sweeping to reduce the dust.
