Delhi has once again emerged as India’s “most polluted city" in October 2024, according to a study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). Besides Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurgaon are featured in the top 10 polluted cities in the country.
The capital’s monthly average PM2.5 level reached 111 µg/m³, marking its highest pollution level since 2021. The air quality deteriorated despite the implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) on October 15.
As per the Decision Support System for Air Quality Management in Delhi, CREA analyst Manoj Kumar said transboundary sources contributed 60 to 70% of Delhi’s average PM2.5 levels in October while less than 10% originated from stubble burning.
However, the Ministry of Earth Sciences’s data showed that the daily average contribution of stubble burning to PM2.5 mass concentration in Delhi increased rapidly from October 21.
(Source: news. Trumpet. Res. in)
The CREA analyst pointed out the need for comprehensive, long-term strategies, saying that the elevated PM2.5 concentrations reveal the impact of year-round pollution sources such as transport, industries, and power plants.
Experts have highlighted the need to tackle local sources of air pollution in the city, rather than focusing only on stubble burning.
In an interview with News18 earlier, Sunil Dahiya, Founder and Lead Analyst, at Envirocatalysts, highlighted that existing sources of pollution in the city have not been controlled comprehensively. Vehicular emissions, power plants, industries in Ghaziabad, Sonepat and other cities in Delhi-NCR, brick kilns, biomass burning in rural areas and construction sites continue to affect Delhi-NCR’s pollution, he pointed out.
Delhi experienced only 9 ‘Good’ days, along with 5 ‘Satisfactory’ days and 8 ‘Moderate’ days in October. However, pollution escalated to ‘Poor’ levels (91-120 µg/m³) on 4 days and reached ‘Very Poor’ levels (121-250 µg/m³) on 14 days. This October average was 2.5 times higher than September’s 43 µg/m³.
Muzaffarnagar, Hapur, Meerut, Charkhi Dadri, Greater Noida, and Bahadurgarh— all situated within the National Capital Region (NCR) — were among the top 10 polluted cities in the country.
The CREA report also highlighted that Uttar Pradesh, for the first time this year, has dominated the list of India’s top 10 most polluted cities, with six cities in the state making the ranking, followed by two from Haryana and one from Bihar.
In October 2024, a total of 79 Indian cities were categorised as ‘Good (0-30 µg/m³)’ on the PM2.5 AQI scale, while 135 cities were ‘Satisfactory (31-60 µg/m³)’, 44 cities were ‘Moderate (61-90 µg/m³)’ and 5 cities were ‘Poor (91-150 µg/m³).
Mizoram’s capital Aizawl emerged as the cleanest city in India during October, with a monthly average PM2.5 of 6 µg/m³, as per the CREA report.
The top 10 cleanest cities comprise five cities from Karnataka and four from Tamil Nadu.
All cities in peninsular states covering Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra were either in the ‘Good’ or ‘Satisfactory’ category due to the southwest and northeast monsoons, as per the CREA.
