Delhi Tops List Of 10 Most Polluted Cities In India; Know AQI Levels In Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai

New Delhi has topped the list of 10 most polluted cities in India with the air quality index in the national capital remaining in the ‘severe’ to ‘severe plus’ categories for the last few days. Several cities from North India also feature in the list, according to data released by air quality monitoring platform Aqi.in.

Apart from Delhi, cities like Gurugram, Noida, Allahabad and Rohtak were also facing deadly levels of air pollution on Friday morning, Aqi.in data showed.

In Delhi, AQI levels surged past 450 earlier this week, prompting the government to implement strict measures under the Graded Response Action Plan Stage IV.

As per System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research data, AQI in Delhi remained in the ‘very poor’ category at 375 at 10:30 a.m. on Friday. Managed by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, SAFAR provides city-specific pollution data.

Most areas in Delhi, like Lodhi Road, RK Puram and Chandni Chowk reported AQI levels in the ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’ categories. The AQI in Anand Vihar and Mayur Vihar hovered around ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’ categories.

However, real time data from private air quality monitoring website Aqi.in showed an AQI of 404 at 10 a.m. in New Delhi, indicating ‘hazardous’ air pollution as per its categorisation.

The air quality monitoring website also tracks the most polluted cities in the world. Currently, the top seven cities on the list are from India. These include New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad, among others.  

Here are the top 10 most polluted cities in India as of 10:10 a.m., according to Aqi.in:

1.    New Delhi: 405 (Hazardous).

2.    Ghaziabad: 395 (Severe).

3.    Noida: 339 (Severe).

4.    Faridabad: 324 (Severe).

5.    Sonipat: 323 (Severe).

6.    Hapur: 312 (Severe).

7.    Amritsar: 309 (Severe).

8.    Gurugram: 302 (Severe).

9.    Banda: 301 (Severe).

10.  Kairana: 300 (Unhealthy).

AQIs in top Indian cities, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, and others.

1.    Mumbai: 134 (Poor).

2.    Bengaluru: 97 (Moderate).

3.    Chennai: 119 (Poor).

4.    Kolkata: 211 (Unhealthy).

5.    Lucknow: 162 (Poor).

6.    Ahmedabad: 137 (Poor).

7.    Hyderabad: 105 (Poor).

8.    Pune: 102 (Poor).