39 of 50 most polluted global cities in India; not Namma Chennai

CHENNAI: A research revealed that India has 39 of the 50 ‘Most Polluted Cities’ in the world in terms of PM2.5 (particulate matter) concentration. Surprisingly, Chennai is not among the 50 most polluted cities.

“In 2022, India relaxed environmental compliance rules for coal mines which allowed for increased production, in response to power outages exacerbated by extreme heatwaves. In November, steam coal imports hit a ten-month low and total coal production increased 11.7% to 75.9 million tons,” revealed a report titled ‘World’s most polluted cities’ released by IQAir.

In the list, Bhiwadi in Rajasthan is in third spot and Delhi ranks fourth. Chennai occupies the 686th spot. Among the big cities’ list that includes Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai, namma ooru occupies the last spot with average PM2.5 levels of 25.3 micrograms per cubic metre in 2020. Overall average of the country was 53.3 micrograms per cubic metre, which makes India the 8th most polluted country.

The report pointed out that the transportation sector’s contribution to PM2.5 varies from 20-35% across Indian cities.

“The National Clean Air Program (NCAP) launched by the Indian government in 2019 was updated in 2022 with a new target of 40% reduction in PM concentration by 2026. The plan seeks to reduce PM concentrations by 20-30% by 2024 in all identified non-attainment cities (Chennai is a non-attainment city), increase air quality monitoring, and conduct source apportionment studies,” it added.