New Delhi: Gurugram has been ranked as the world’s most polluted city in 2018. Seven Indian cities feature in the top ten and 22 in top 30. China, which is often in the news for air pollution, has only one city Hotan in the top 10. Beijing, which was once one of the most polluted cities in the world, now ranks 122.
Five cities in China, two in Pakistan and one in Bangladesh are the other cities in the top 30. Talcher, the only city from Odisha featured on the list at number 76. Bhubaneswar was not included in the study.
The study, which shows data by IQAir AirVisual and Greenpeace, measured particulate matter PM2.5 in the air.
The report identified “industries, households, cars, and trucks emit complex mixtures of air pollutants” as major sources of ambient air pollution and mentioned that fine particulate matter has the greatest effect on human health. As many as 64 per cent of the 3000 cities monitored exceed WHO’s safe air quality standards, with majority of them being in south-east Asia.
According to Yeb Sano, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, “In addition to human lives lost, an estimated cost of $225 billion in lost labour, and trillions in medical costs.”
Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Bhiwadi, Noida, Patna and Lucknow feature in the top 10, with New Delhi at number 11.
National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) recently launched by the Ministry of Environment and Forest in India intends to reduce pollution levels by 20-30 per cent by 2024 compared to 2017 levels in 102 cities.
The current Air Quality Index (AQI) in Bhubaneswar is around 114, which is ‘unhealthy for sensitive people’ according to IQAir site. The same is 157 (Unhealthy) in New Delhi with a peak of 257 (Very unhealthy) near Wazipur.
