Remember 2014? When WHO quoted New Delhi as the most polluted city in the world? We all started imagining Interstellar’s dust storms knocking on our doors. But more interesting than that was our ultra-creative mind which started conjuring up the wickedest thoughts. We started imagining the pollution masks as an integral part of life. Lovers kissing with them on, cricketers playing donning them, we even imagined newly born babies getting born with a mask on.
But this was a blessing in disguise for our smoker friends, wasn’t it? They got to smoke 40 cigarettes and that too free of cost!!!! How much does that costs? Umm, something around 500 rupees? So lucky people. Even our parents wanted us to switch to smoking from breathing then.
But the cool thing about the Delhi Govt. is that it finds happiness in almost everything. It gave a sigh of relief to the people by informing that the pollution level has improved. How much? Errrr, it has gone down to ‘severe’. Seriously? ‘Severe’ is better? But on a serious note, Delhiites can relax now, though only a bit, as New Delhi is no more a part of the top 10 cities in the world with the highest pollution levels. But India needs to worry now. According to the latest report released by IQAir AirVisual and Greenpeace, 7 of the 10 most polluted cities ranked around the world are from India. Which ones? Let’s see.
Gurugram has been ranked as the city with the highest pollution level in the world with an average Air Quality Index (AQI) of 135.8 in 2018. Did we see that coming?
Another city from NCR, Ghaziabad ranks 2nd in the world. These figures do shock us. Ghaziabad’s average AQI 2018 was 135.2.
This city ranks 4th in the world. Faisalabad in Pakistan was kind enough to take the 3rd spot. Looks like Pakistan wants to compete here also. Faridabad got an average AQI of 129.1 in 2018.
Finally. No more NCR city. Bhiwadi from Rajasthan has ranked 5th in the list with an average AQI 2018 of 125.4.
What? Again NCR? Noida ranks 6th in the world having an average AQI 2018 of 123.6. But I assure you, no more NCR for now. *Though we have already covered the majority of the chunk.*
Patna ranks 7th in the list of most polluted cities in the world. On moving out of NCR, we realize that the problem is pan-India. Patna has an average AQI in 2018 of 119.7.
The city of Nawabs ranks 9th in the list with an average AQI of 115.7 in 2018. Lucknow is the last Indian city to feature in the list of Top 10 world cities with the highest pollution levels.
India seems to be dominating this list and this is something not to be proud of. New Delhi is the world’s most polluted capital, ranking 11th in the above list. 22 of the Top 30 cities are also from India. If some fruitful steps are not taken right now, no one can stop the place from becoming a gas chamber.