Priyanka Tiwari
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As per a report published on Tuesday, Byrnihat located in Assam is India's most polluted city, and leads the list of the world’s most polluted cities with 13 of the top 20 residing in India.
According to IQAir's estimation in their report titled ‘World Air Quality Report 2024’, stated that India welcomed a decrease in ranking from 3rd to 5th in the world’s most polluted countries, while still holding onto the title for the most polluted capital city due to Delhi. This was further supported by 7 percent reduction in PM2.5 levels for 2024.
Though 4 Pakistani cities alongside one Chinese city made the list, the report shows the Indian population's shocking lack of improvement where the cities still remain as the top 20 most polluted in the world. Among these Indian cities, Faridabad, Greater Noida, and other locations were identified to have increased yearly average of PM2.5 concentration, causing air deterioration.
Furthermore, the concentration of PM2.5 around Delhi equally worsened with the sliding increase from 102.4 micrograms in 2023 to 108.3 micrograms in 2024.
The report stated that 35 percent of Indian cities exceeded the annual PM2.5 average by more than 10 times the WHO figure of 5 micrograms per cubic meter.
The pollution levels in Byrnihat, a town on the border of Meghalaya and Assam, is caused by emissions from local factories, especially distilleries and iron and steel plants.
Delhi deals with high levels of air pollution throughout the year, which gets significantly worse in winter due to unfavorable meteorological conditions together with cartoons and emission from vehicles, paddy straw burning, firecrackers, and other local sources of pollution.
The World Health Organisation claims that air pollution continues to be a great danger to the health of people in India, which can lower life expectancy by approximately 5.2 years. According to a study by The Lancet Planetary Health, Indian citizens aged 30 and above died from conditions linked to over-exposure to PM2.5 pollution, on an average, 1.5 million annually from the year 2009 to 2019. Heart disease, breathing complications, and even lung cancer can occur as a result of PM2.5, which is made up of exhaust fumes, industrial smoke, and particles of wood and crop waste. The former ‘WHO’ chief scientist and current advisor Soumya Swaminathan strongly believes that while the government has improved air quality data collection, she believes more needs to be done.
"The data exists, but we require implementation. Some problems are simple to resolve such as changing biomass fuel to LPG. To some extent this is already on India, but we need to provide more subsidies for additional cylinders. Currently, the first cylinder is free, but women from the poorest households should receive better subsidies. This will enhance their wellbeing while decreasing outdoor air pollution," she stated in an interview with PTI.
The cities can also look into broadening the reach of public transport and fining some vehicles. "Carrots and sticks are needed in equal measure." “Most importantly, emission rules must be followed. All industries and construction activities have to abide by the law and put emission control devices instead of defaulting," the former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research commented.
