Air pollution choking India, UP home to 5 most polluted cities in the country

Half of the most polluted cities in India are in Uttar Pradesh with Allahabad ranked as worst, the Central Pollution Control Board air quality data of the 46 million cities showed.

Delhi ranks fourth for the average annual particulate matter pollution in 2016, 19% deterioration since 2014. Other cities are Jaipur, Dhanbad, Ranchi and Amritsar.

The worrying trend emerging from the data was that air pollution was rising at a rapid pace in most of the big cites except Raipur, Kolkata and Indore, where it has gone down slightly because of proactive action by local bodies.

The annual average pollution was more than four times the permissible limit in 10 most polluted cities, meaning that on the worst days,



especially in winter, it was up to 20 times the national safety parameter and 60 times of the World Health Organisation (WHO) norm.

The data tabled in Parliament on Tuesday had five UP cities — Allahabad, Varanasi, Lucknow, Ghaziabad and Agra — among the top worst air quality cities in the country.

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The only saving grace for the state is that the levels in Ghaziabad has improved slightly since 2014 even though it was 6th most polluted city. Regional officer of UP Pollution Control Board Mohd Sikander admitted that the particulate matter was high within the city limits. He blamed dust, vehicular exhaust, brick-kilns and garbage burning as main reasons.