LAHORE (Dunya News) – The Punjab government on Friday extended green lockdown to parks and public places in four divisions of the province as smog reached northern parts of the country and engulfed Rawalpindi after Lahore and Multan.
The government issued a notification under which all public places will remain closed till November 17.
“In view of the worsening smog situation, parks, recreation centers and museums have been closed for 10 days. All public and private parks, zoos, playgrounds will remain closed to the public till Nov 17,” the notification said.
The decision is enforced on historical places, tombs, Joyland, in Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Multan divisions, read the notification.
Earlier Lahore remained at the top of the world’s most polluted cities with air quality index (AQI) at 738 at around 9 am despite green lockdown in many parts of the city. The AQI of the posh areas of the city has been recorded at 1,487.
According to the Swiss IQAir chart of the most polluted cities, Indian capital Delhi was at the second place with 427.
Meanwhile, the AQI of Rawalpindi reached 282 and the hill station Murree at 150. The Rawalpindi district administration had imposed a smog emergency three days ago.
Heavy smog has been affecting health of the citizens as health experts reported that the cases of eye and throat infections have increased.
The health authorities have said that more than 100,000 people have been affected in a month due to smog.
Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department has forecast the smog would persist for the next 10 days.
FOG FORCES MOTORWAY CLOSURE
Fog, in the meantime, started descending on the country as Motorway M2 from Lahore to Sheikhupura and M3 from Lahore to Jaranwala were closed to traffic.
The Motorway Police spokesman said the Lahore to Islamabad section was opened to traffic at around 10 am after fog situation improved.
He expressed the hope that Lahore to Sheikhupura and Lahore to Jaranwala would be opened as fog was subsiding.