Lahore: According to the Punjab administration, all schools (primary through 12th grade) must close till November 17 to address the persistent health issues.
A senior Punjab minister claims that high schools in Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, and Lahore will not be open till November 17.
All formal meetings will be conducted online, and half of the employees in both government and private offices will work from home.
In Punjab, half of the employees at both public and commercial offices will work from home due to the rising pollution levels, and many schools have been closed in the impacted cities.
Maryam Aurangzeb, the senior provincial minister, added that during this period, schools will set up online classes for students.
Maryam Aurangzeb, addressing a press conference, stated that burning crop residue is a major cause of the smog. Plastic bags are prohibited, but infractions still happen.
Also read: Punjab Government Closes Schools in Lahore for One Week Due to Severe Smog
According to Maryam Aurangzeb, Multan and Gujranwala have been impacted by winds from Rajasthan and other parts of India. The pollution in Lahore is predicted to remain intense for the next ten days, with the Air Quality Index reading surpassing 1,000 today.
All government meetings are now conducted via Zoom, and the senior minister also confirmed that half of the employees in both public and private offices will work from home. The Environmental Protection Agency has established a Smog War Room to track air pollution levels and has set precise goals for all relevant departments to help tackle the problem.
In answer to a query, Maryam Aurangzeb explained that Maryam Nawaz Sharif had surgery on her throat the previous year, and six months ago, she is suffering the infection again.
Maryam Nawaz Sharif will return to Pakistan on November 12 after receiving treatment in Geneva. She emphasized that Maryam Nawaz Sharif has persisted in serving the people of Punjab despite her health issues. She further explained that it was untrue to say that Maryam Nawaz Sharif had traveled to London because of the smog.
Record levels of pollution cause Lahore to gasp.
On Saturday, Lahore’s air pollution levels reached a record high, and officials warned that the city’s air quality is about 40 times worse than what the World Health Organization (WHO) considers acceptable.
Also read: Punjab Closes Special Schools for Smog Crisis
The WHO considers a value above 15 in a 24-hour period to be harmful, and the peak level of PM2.5 pollutants, the lethal small particulate matter in the air that causes the most harm to health, was 610.
Smoke from seasonal agricultural burning, winter cooling, and low-grade diesel emissions have all contributed to the city’s days-long smog, a mixture of fog and toxins.
According to IQAir statistics, the air quality index, which measures several kinds of pollutants, peaked at 1,067, significantly higher than the 300 threshold deemed “dangerous.”
