Greenpeace India said the report is a reminder to us, indicating that our efforts and actions to reduce air pollution are not enough and India needs to do much more than already planned and done. It said Beijing is showing us that it can be done as have many other cities in Europe and US over past decades.
HIGHLIGHTS
- India has 15 out of 20 most polluted cities in the world
- Gurugram & Ghaziabad top list of most polluted cities in the world
- Faridabad, Bhiwadi and Noida are in top six with Delhi on 11th spot
While Delhi remains the most polluted capital in the world, Haryana's Gurugram has emerged as the most polluted city, according to a Greenpeace report.
Delhi is still the most polluted capital across the world but India has much more polluted geography than the capital city with limited but increasing data availability for hazardous PM2.5 particles.
The latest data by Greenpeace India highlights that out of 20 most polluted cities in the world, 18 are in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh while Beijing, once among the most polluted cities in the world ranked 122nd in the list of most polluted cities in 2018.
"The database comprising of PM2.5 data for more than 3000 cities reminds us of grim health emergency the world faces from air pollution again after the WHO air quality database released last year," the report said.
The report revealed India still hosts 15 out of 20 most polluted cities in the world with Gurugram and Ghaziabad being the most polluted cities in the world followed by Faridabad, Bhiwadi and Noida being in top six with Delhi on the 11th spot.
"Multiple databases on air quality including recent report Airpocalypse-III by Greenpeace India have reminded us of how air pollution is impacting our daily lives in India," it said.
The report highlighted that the number of non-attainment cities in India has gone up to 241 from initially identified 102 by CPCB and MoEF&CC under NCAP making it about 80 per cent of the locations with PM10 monitoring data.
"IQAir AirVisual 2018 World Air Quality Report is a reminder to us indicating that our efforts and actions to reduce the invisible killer, i.e., air pollution are not enough, and we need to do much more than already planned and done. If we want India to breathe clean air, it's high time that our plans such as NCAP, GRAP, CAP etc. becomes much more stringent, aggressive, legally binding and most of all implementable at ground rather than being just used a political statement without much happening at ground," Pujarini Sen, Greenpeace India said.
Sen added, "Beijing is showing us that it can be done as have many other cities in Europe and US over past decades, we have enough of research and studies suggesting the way ahead towards breathable India, the question which remains to be answered is whether there is enough political will to aggressively fight the health emergency India faces today and move away from polluting fuels and practices of past?"
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