LAHORE: Dense toxic smog blanketed Pakistan’s second biggest city Lahore on Saturday (November 15), with air quality hitting “hazardous” levels and posing a health threat to the city’s millions, particularly those working outdoors and exposed, data from the Swiss group IQAir showed.
Lahore recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 344 at 8 am local time (0300 GMT), making it world’s second most polluted city after the Indian capital Delhi among the list of polluted major cities.
Fruit vendors, who ply their trade outdoors by buying fruits at wholesale markets and then selling them on carts and roadside stalls, say they are especially vulnerable to health problems caused by the smog, and struggle to make ends meet if they can’t work due to sickness.
“I went to the (wholesale) fruit market as early as 7 in the morning to buy fruit. Yes, smog is affecting throats, causes cold, cough and irritation to eyes. I fell ill two, three times and stayed home. But it is necessary to come here to run the business to make ends meet, even if one is sick,” said one fruit vendor, Mohammad Amir.
Khalid Mehmood, an elderly fruit vendor, told Reuters, “at times we fall ill and we are unable to make ends meet. It brings poverty to our families.”
Each winter, plain areas of Punjab province — of which Lahore is the capital — are gripped by thick smog as cold, heavy air traps pollutants from construction dust, vehicle emissions, and agricultural fires. While the provincial government has previously deployed measures such as anti-smog guns, these offer only temporary relief, leaving vulnerable populations exposed.
