Toxic Air Casts Pall of Gloom from Lahore to Delhi and Kathmandu

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Bad Air Blows through Multan in Pakistan to Kathmandu in Nepal

By Raisina Correspondent

New Delhi, November 12: Millions of people across national borders continue to battle nightmarish air quality for third week in a row. The air quality in the Delhi National Capital Region on Tuesday morning dipped to 354.

According to IQAir, the air quality in Lahore on Tuesday morning was over 910. Reports said that South Nepal is also battling bad air quality.

The air quality in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, was 141 on Tuesday morning. The air quality is in the unhealthy category in Kathmandu per IQAir, a Switzerland-based air quality monitoring agency.

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The air quality index in Chandigarh was 226. The quality of air in Chandigarh is in a “very unhealthy category” per IQAir. The air quality index in Gurugram was reported at 210 on Tuesday morning.

The cross-border wind patterns this year has brought whole of Punjab in Pakistan under smog according to local weather officials. Hundreds of patients are being rushed to hospitals for ailments attributed to bad air quality in Lahore and Multan in Pakistan.

Multan reported an air quality index of 807 on Tuesday morning. Experts pinned blame on farm fire and lack of wind speed to the worsening of the air quality all through the northern and the western regions.

The air quality has worsened in parts of Pakistan, India, and Nepal. Experts are alarmed at the worsening air quality in Kathmandu which is in the central Nepal. The air quality index is being reported to be worse in South Nepal.

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“Clean air is a shared responsibility that extends beyond borders. In Nepal, reducing vehicular emissions is a key strategy to improve air quality, but true progress requires collective action from neighboring countries as well,” World Bank Environment said in a post on X, apparently blaming India and China for the worsening air quality in the Himalayan nation.

IQAir said that Kathmandu has been experiencing unhealthy air since mid-October. This is almost the same time frame from when the Delhi NCR also came under a heavy carpet of smog.

Experts have warned that the worsening air quality in Nepal could also lead to adverse effects on glaciers which could cost heavily the neighbouring countries. Episodes of floods have now become more frequent, experts noted.

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