Hundreds of residents of Ardakan city in Yazd Province (central Iran) took to the streets on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 26 and 27, to protest against the air pollution in the city.
According to reports on social media, the protesters chanted slogans against the provincial authorities of Yazd, stating that the city does not have the capacity to accommodate more industries.
On most days of the year, the air quality index in Ardakan is in an unhealthy and dangerous state for sensitive groups.
Mostafa Mirzadeh, the deputy of the Environmental Organization in Yazd Province, attributed a significant portion of this air pollution to the establishment of 80% of the province’s industries in this area.
Iranian media reports indicate that despite the protests by environmental activists and Ardakan residents, none of the responsible executive officials have announced any solutions to reduce air pollution in the city.
Large cities in Iran, especially Tehran, have been plagued by air pollution in the past decades, but now this pollution has also spread to small and even desert cities in Iran.
Ardakan County is located in the northern part of Yazd Province, about 60 kilometers away from the province’s center, in a desert area.
Media reports indicate that in half of the days of this year, the air in this city has been heavily polluted due to industrial pollution.
This pollution has led to the closure of schools in Ardakan on many days.
For example, in early December, due to air pollution, preschool centers and all educational levels in the cities of Ardakan, Ahmadabad, Turkabad, Meybod, and Bafruiyeh in this county were operating remotely.
Furthermore, the authorities of this city have approved measures such as banning the traffic of trucks and dealing with all public and government vehicles without a valid technical inspection label.
Preventing all construction activities in the city, turning off buses and minibuses at terminals, and special monitoring to prevent the burning of waste, tree branches, and debris by the relevant municipalities were among the resolutions in this regard.
The protests by the people of Ardakan against air pollution continued today, Wednesday.
On Tuesday, air pollution caused all schools in Mashhad to switch to remote learning. The air pollution index in Mashhad was reported to be at its highest and in a hazardous level.
According to regime’s Mehr News Agency, Jafar Jandaghi, the head of the Environmental and Occupational Health Center of the Ministry of Health, described the air quality situation in the country on December 23 as “very inappropriate” and stated, “An examination of polluted cities has shown that from 2021 to 2022, the number of deaths due to air pollution has increased by more than 30%.”
Dariush Gol-Ali-Zadeh, the head of the National Air and Climate Change Center of the Environmental Protection Organization, stated in early December that in the past year, more than 26,000 people lost their lives in various cities of Iran due to air pollution.
According to Gol-Ali-Zadeh, in 2022, in Tehran alone, more than six thousand deaths were attributed to air pollution, causing damages equivalent to three billion dollars.
