Delhi’s Air Pollution Tops India in October; Stubble Burning Only 10% of Pollution: Study

Delhi air pollution October 2024

Delhi’s Air Pollution Tops India in October: Delhi has become India’s “most polluted city” again in October 2024 as per a study by Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). Besides Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida and Gurgaon are in the top 10 polluted cities of the country.

The capital’s average PM2.5 level in October was 111 µg/m³, the highest since 2021. Air quality worsened despite GRAP being implemented since October 15.

As per the Decision Support System for Air Quality Management in Delhi, CREA’s Manoj Kumar said transboundary sources accounted for 60 to 70% of Delhi’s average PM2.5 in October while less than 10% was from stubble burning.

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But Ministry of Earth Sciences data showed that daily average contribution of stubble burning to PM2.5 mass concentration in Delhi increased sharply from October 21.

The CREA analyst said we need comprehensive, long term solutions, the high PM2.5 levels show the impact of year round pollution sources like transport, industries and power plants.

Experts say we need to address local sources of air pollution in the city rather than just stubble burning.

In an interview with News18 earlier, Sunil Dahiya, Founder and Lead Analyst, Envirocatalysts had said 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 are still polluting Delhi-NCR, he had pointed out.

Delhi had only 9 ‘Good’ days, 5 ‘Satisfactory’ days and 8 ‘Moderate’ days in October. But pollution went up to ‘Poor’ (91-120 µg/m³) on 4 days and ‘Very Poor’ (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, Bahadurgarh— all within NCR— were among the top 10 polluted cities of the country.

The CREA report also said for the first time this year Uttar Pradesh has topped the list of India’s most polluted cities with six cities in the state, two from Haryana and one from Bihar.

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In October 2024, 79 Indian cities were ‘Good (0-30 µg/m³)’ on the PM2.5 AQI scale, 135 were ‘Satisfactory (31-60 µg/m³)’, 44 were ‘Moderate (61-90 µg/m³)’ and 5 were ‘Poor (91-150 µg/m³)’.

Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram was the cleanest city in India in October with a monthly average PM2.5 of 6 µg/m³. Five cities from Karnataka and four from Tamil Nadu in the top 10.

According to the CREA, all the cities in the peninsular states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra fell into either the 'Good' or 'Satisfactory' category on account of the southwest and northeast monsoons.

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