Recently, the mid-year air quality assessment for India was released by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Byrnihat of Meghalaya, located on the Assam-Meghalaya border, ranked as the most polluted city in India.
Among India’s top 10 polluted cities, three were located in Haryana, two each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, while Delhi, Assam, and Bihar each had one.
163 cities exceeded the annual National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of India (40 µg/m³).
All 256 cities exceeded the annual World Health Organization (WHO) standard (5 µg/m³).
Karnataka and Maharashtra had the highest number of cities under the ‘Good’ and ‘Satisfactory’ categories, with 16 and 30 cities, respectively.
Bihar had the most cities (10) under the ‘Moderate’ category, while Haryana and Rajasthan each had three cities in the ‘Poor’ category.
Only one city, located in Assam, fell under the ‘Severe’ category.