Delhi tops the chart of most polluted cities in India

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Delhi tops the chart of most polluted cities in India (Image: twitter/ANI)
Delhi tops the chart of most polluted cities in India (Image: twitter/ANI)

New Delhi : Delhi has been placed on the top spot for being the most polluted city, Hyderabad comes at the number four spot on the list released by World Air Quality Report for the year 2021 by IQAir. The company claimed that during 2021, Delhi was the most polluted city in India followed by Kolkata, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.

With Hyderabad coming to the list, it becomes a reason to get alarmed for South India.

With the rise in PM 2.5 levels from 34.7 micrograms per cubic metre of air in 2020 to 39.4 in 2021, the air pollution level in the city was categorized as unhealthy with the Air Quality Index (AQI) of 159, according to the data on IQAir website on October 21.

With sources like automobile and industries, the main pollutant was Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5. According to a report, one-third of the air pollution was done by vehicles in the city.

PM2.5 concentration in Hyderabad was 70.4 micrograms per cubic metre of air. This was 14.1 times the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) annual air quality guideline value.

Talking about Hyderabad, the increase in pollution is mainly because of vehicles, fossil fuel burning, construction, opening landfill burning and landfill fires of solid waste.