Only 32 Indian cities had clean air this January, Delhi, Bhagalpur most polluted

In January 2024,  only 32 Indian cities had clean air while Delhi was the most polluted, suggested findings of a new study. 

The research was done by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Finnish research organisation with focus on causes and health impacts of air pollution and solutions. The report was  published on its website February 14, 2024.

“In January 2024, the number of National Clean Air Programme cities whose monthly average Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 levels surpassed the WHO’s daily guideline was 98. Only 32 cities met India’s daily National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and 66 recorded PM2.5 concentrations that exceeded NAAQS,” the authors of the report observed.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had launched NCAP in 2019, aimed at reducing ambient PM pollution levels in 131 non-attainment cities from 24 states and Union territories. The revised National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) 2009 defined ambient air quality standards / limits, providing a legal framework for the control of air pollution and the protection of public health.

Among the 66 cities with pollution levels under question, the study found 15 of the cities registering levels more than double the prescribed PM2.5 standard of 60 microgrammes per cubic metre. 

The study stated that throughout January, the capital city recorded a monthly average PM2.5 concentration of 206 µg/m³, which surpassed the daily NAAQS.

The report stated:

While Bhagalpur in Bihar closely followed Delhi, recording a monthly average PM2.5 concentration of 206, Saharsa, Byrnihat, Greater Noida, Hanumangarh, Noida, Baddi, Sri Ganganagar and Faridabad featured among the top 10 most polluted cities list the same month.

Among the 10 most polluted cities, two were in Bihar, two in Rajasthan, two in Uttar Pradesh, one in Assam, one in Haryana, one in Himachal Pradesh and one in Delhi.

Chamarajanagar, Vijayapura, Kalaburgi and Bagalkot in Karnataka, along with Aizawl in Mizoram as well as Silchar and Sivasagar in Assam featured among the 10 cleanest cities in January 2024.

Last month, only 101 of the 131 cities identified as non-attainment cities under NCAP had a continuous ambient air quality monitoring station (CAAQMS) installed.

“Low wind speed and cooler temperatures in northern India combined and formed stable atmospheric conditions. This hindered the rapid dispersion of emissions and resulted in the accumulation of pollutants near the earth’s surface, which increased ambient air pollution levels,” the scientists wrote in the paper.

While natural atmospheric conditions are beyond human control, baseline emissions primarily contribute towards the increase in hazardous air pollution levels in any given region, they added. 

Thus, the legal gaurantee will cost the government about Rs 6 lakh crore, according to the report of director, CRISIL, if traders totally boycott the APMC’s markets which will be recovered within a year by sale of agricultural produced purchases by the government in open markets.

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