ISLAMABAD: The provincial government in Pakistan’s Punjab province has installed a Smog Clean Tower in the eastern city of Lahore to reduce air pollution, state-run media reported this week.
Smog had choked Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province for weeks last month, sickening nearly two million people and shrouding vast swathes of the province in a toxic haze.
Last month, the province closed down schools and offices, banned outdoor activities and shortened timings for restaurants, shops and markets in a bid to control smog as Lahore consistently ranked among the world’s most polluted cities in the world.
“Punjab Government has installed Smog Clean Tower in Lahore in collaboration with National University of Science and Technology,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Saturday.
“It has the capability of cleansing poisonous particles present in the air and will play an important role to reduce the pollution level in the city.”
Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb described the initiative as a “revolutionary step,“saying that the use of modern technology is the need of the hour to control smog.
“She said that this tower will prove a model for Lahore and Pakistan,” Radio Pakistan said.
The dangerous smog is a byproduct of large numbers of vehicles, construction and industrial work as well as burning crops at the start of the winter wheat-planting season, experts say.
