Nash K
In a recent report released by IQAir, the sad truth about air quality in many Indian cities has been revealed. IQAir is a Swiss company that deals in air quality technology.
In its report, the company has listed the names of 100 most polluted places on Earth and 63 of them are from India.
The average air pollution has been found to be 58.1 micrograms per cubic meter and this is 10 times more than the guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation-WHO.
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The list has New Delhi at the top as the post polluted capital city for the fourth consecutive year. The pollution levels in the city have risen by 15% as compared to last year’s pollution levels. The air pollutants in New Delhi have been found to be 20 times more than the safe limits set by WHO.
The other cities on the top include Bhiwadi in Rajasthan that has been named as the most polluted place in the world. Then comes Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. The situation is scary as out of the top fifteen polluted places of the world, ten are from India.
Most of the polluted places are in and around the capital, New Delhi. Off the 63 places mentioned in the list, most are in located in then two states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The situation is grim as the air quality is directly related to life expectancy. It means that people living in polluted areas have a shorter life span on an average, as compared to people living in places that have cleaner air.
Apart from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan also have a number of places on the most polluted list. The report is vital as it is the first of its kind that is based on the latest air pollution level guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation.
As per the new guidelines of WHO, the acceptable concentration of fine particulate matter or PM 2.5 has been reduced by half from 10 to 5 micrograms per cubic meter.
The PM 2.5 has many harmful impacts on the health as it is very tiny and can enter the blood stream once inhaled into the lungs. The pollutant has been found to cause health issues such as asthma, heart disease and other respiratory problems. PM 2.5 is considered to be serious threat to health and comes from combustion related sources like car engines, fireplaces, furnaces, burning of fossil fuels etc.
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Indian cities have been facing the air pollution issues for a long time and it is causing major health issue to the people apart from massive financial burden on the country.
The data released by IQAir should be treated as an eye opener and stricter measures should be put in place to combat the growing pollution across the country.
