Tehran declares holiday for pollution

TEHRAN - Tehran will observe a public holiday Wednesday due to “alarming” rise of air pollution in the city, the official media reports.

The Tehran City Air Pollution Committee announced that offices, banks and schools will remain closed Wednesday, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The decision was taken Monday at an emergency meeting of the committee headed by Governor Morteza Tamaddon.

The committee took note of a report by the State Aero-Meteorological Organization before arriving at the decision.