Pakistan's Punjab sets up 'smog war room' to combat hazardous air, shuts schools

By Mubasher Bukhari

LAHORE (Reuters) -Pakistan's province of Punjab set up a "smog war room" to tackle severe pollution, officials said, as poor air quality turned its capital of Lahore into the world's most polluted city and forced the closure of some educational institutions.

Live rankings by Swiss group IQAir gave Lahore a pollution index score of 1165, followed by the Indian capital of New Delhi, with 299.

"The war room committee will review weather and air quality forecasts ... daily and monitor the performance and actions of field officers," said Sajid Bashir, a spokesperson for the province's environment department.

Officials told Reuters it brings together staff from eight departments, with a single person charged with overseeing tasks from controlling burning of farm waste to managing traffic.

Twice daily sessions will analyse data and forecasts to brief stakeholders on efforts to fight pollution, and issue daily advisories, they added.

Authorities in Punjab ordered educational institutions in several areas to close until Nov. 17 and shift to online teaching instead to protect children and curb pollution. Earlier only primary schools in Lahore had been shut for a week.

But Wednesday's index score for Lahore fell short of last week's unprecedented reading of 1900 in some areas, an excess of more than 120 times over recommended levels, prompting bans on some building activity and orders to work from home.

At the time, Punjab's senior minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, blamed the toxic air on pollution drifting across the border with India just 25 km (16 miles) away. Northern areas of the neighbouring nation are also battling severe pollution.

The Punjab government would ask Pakistan's foreign office to take up the matter with India's foreign ministry, she told the Indian Express newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday.

South Asia is shrouded in intense pollution every winter as cold air traps emissions, dust, and smoke from farm fires, while pollution could cut more than five years from people's life expectancy in the region, a study found last year.

On Tuesday the environment minister of New Delhi, rated the world's most polluted capital for four successive years by IQAir, said officials were looking to artificial rain to fight the problem this year.

(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)