Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 28
By Umid Niayesh, Saeed Isayev - Trend:
Tabriz is Iran's second most polluted city, East Azerbaijan Province's Environment Department director Hamid Ghasemi said, Mehr News Agency on Feb.27.
Ghasemi noted that distribution of low quality gasoline along with older automobiles create 72 percent of the air pollution in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province's capital.
During the Iranian calendar year, the air pollution index was between 140 to 230 and 22 days of year were at critical and alarming levels, he added.
It should be noted that last Iranian calendar year Tehran experienced 147 days in which air quality was substandard based on the PSI (Pollutant Standards Index), according to Iranian Parliament's Environment Committee Mohammadreza Tabesh.
Iranian calendar year starts from March 20.
Ghasemi said that no measure has been implemented to replace 4000 aging cars with new ones since March 2011.
Tehran ranks as Iran's first most-polluted city.
"Since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year, there have been only four healthy days in Tehran, the governor of Tehran province, Hossein Hashemi said, Iranian IRNA news agency reported on Feb. 24.
The air over Iran's capital is amongst the most polluted in the world. Experts say many Iranians suffer serious health problems as a result.
Motor vehicles account for 70 percent of pollution in the Iranian capital. Low quality gasoline and diesel is partially responsible for the problem.