63 Indian cities in 100 most polluted places: IQAir

NEW DELHI: As per the World Air Quality Report released by IQAir, a Swiss firm, Delhi is the most polluted capital in the world for the fourth time in a row. The report found that the pollution levels rose around 15 per cent more than the previous year. The findings ended three-year trend of improving air quality and found that lethal and microscopic PM 2.5 pollutant level is 58.1 micrograms per cubic meter, which is more than 10 times the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended levels. No city in India met the WHO standard.

Air pollution in Delhi is almost 20 times over the WHO limit with PM 2.5 levels of 96.4 micrograms per cubic meter. While Delhi ranked fourth most polluted place globally, Bhiwadi, Rajasthan is found as the most polluted place in the world. Bhiwadi is followed by Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Ten cities in the top 15 spot list are Indian and most of them are around the capital.

In total, with 63 cities on the list, India dominates the list of the Top 100 most polluted cities in the world. The manor sources of pollution in the country include vehicular emission, coal-fired power plants, industrial waste, biomass combustion for cooking, etc. The report also made a special mention of the smoke from stubble burning, which is responsible for almost 45 per cent of pollution in Delhi.