Tech Desk 
Nov 01, 2025
The Punjab government on Friday clarified that the air quality monitoring stations have been "operating without interruption" across Lahore, in response to citizens' criticism over disruptions on social media.
Environment Protection and Climate Change Department (EPCCD) Secretary Silwat Saeed revealed that a technical glitch caused a delay in data transmission to the public.
"We regret the inconvenience the public faced due to a lag of 12 hours from 3am Oct 30, to 3pm Oct 31," said Saeed, adding that the missing data has been uploaded on aqi.punjab.gov.pk.
It should be noted that the issue was first raised by climate and public policy analyst Dawar Hameed Butt, alleging that the EPCCD had turned off several monitoring stations, specifically those in the more polluted northern and eastern parts of the city.
In response to the allegations, EPCCD spokesperson Sajid Bashir denied the claims, stating that the department updates air quality levels on an hourly basis and dismissed the social media users' allegations as "false claims".
"Neither the monitors were shut down nor was the data lost for the period. EPCCD is committed to measuring the air quality of major cities in Punjab by measuring six air pollutants with regulatory-grade monitors and disseminating them to the public without manipulation and lag.
"We remain committed to the public interest and public service cause of making transparency in maintaining data integrity as our key hallmark, we are going to make that retrieved data available in the shape of a table, and a pop-up will be there on the AQI portal as well as the app for another 48 hours at least," added Saeed.
Following allegations from numerous social media users blaming the provincial government for deliberately turning the monitors off to hide failure, Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also denied these claims, saying the "error was due to a technical glitch".
