Air quality across Indian cities has been worsening for the past two weeks. This trend witnessed an uptick following the festival of Diwali, which saw the bursting of firecrackers. Emissions and fumes from these crackers caused pollution levels to rise across various states.
Major cities across India, including the national capital, Delhi, and the financial capital, Mumbai, are all battling the problem of pollution. ‘Severe’ to ‘very poor’ air quality was registered across various cities in the Indo-Gangetic plain in the past few weeks which improved just before Diwali due to Western disturbances.
Stubble burning in this region has been the main contributor to the rising pollution levels along with vehicular emissions. Among the top 10 cities with the worst air quality as of 6:30 am, 2 were in Haryana, 3 were in Uttar Pradesh, two in Bihar, one in Punjab, one in Rajasthan and one was the national capital, Delhi. Nine cities recorded “severe” AQI levels today.
Data from 242 cities collected on November 13 by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed that no city had significant air quality, 53 had “very poor,” 85 had “poor,” 75 had “moderate,” and only 32 of the 242 cities had “satisfactory” to “good” air quality.
With an AQI of 423 at 6:30 am, Bhagpat, Uttar Pradesh, is the most polluted city today, according to real-time statistics from the CPCB. Gurugram in Haryana, who’s AQI was 400, is just behind it. The air quality in these two cities was rated as “severe.”
The cities listed in the top 10 most polluted with the worst air quality today are listed as “very poor.” These cities include Delhi, whose AQI was 384, Bathinda in Punjab, whose AQI was 374, Begasarai in Bihar, whose AQI was 367, Chhapra in Bihar, whose AQI was 366, and Rohtak in Haryana, whose AQI was 365.
Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, whose AQI was 364; Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, whose AQI was 363; Dharuhera in Haryana, whose AQI was 363; Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, whose AQI was 362; Siwan in Bihar, whose AQI was 358; Hisar at 356; Angul in Odisha, whose AQI was 355; Ballabgarh in Haryana, whose AQI stood at 352; Bahadurgarh in Haryana, whose AQI was 347; Jind in Haryana, whose AQI was 337; Purnia in Bihar, with AQI at 331; and Manesar in Haryana, with an AQI of 330.
