14 of world’s 15 most polluted cities in India, Kanpur tops list

The second largest city of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Kanpur, attained global infamy on Tuesday after the World Health Organisation (WHO) placed it on top of a list of 4,300 world cities monitored for their air pollution levels in terms of PM 2.5 levels in the year 2016. The only city from another country is Ali Subah Al Salem (Kuwait) at number 15. The other cities in order of pollution levels (High to low) are Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur.

Notably, the Chinese Capital, Beijing, didn’t even make it to the first 20 cities reflecting the drastic measures the communist regime has taken to shed its “Greyjing” tag and bring back its “blue skies.”

These include shutting down many coal-based power plants and putting a cap on the number of private cars that can be sold in a year.

The only bright spot for India was the WHO report making a special mention of Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Ujjwala’ scheme to provide LPG connections to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) households.

The report said, “While the latest data shows ambient air pollution levels are still dangerously high in most parts of the world, countries also show some positive progress.”

“For example, in just two years, India’s Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Scheme has provided some 37 million women living below the poverty line with free LPG connections to support them to switch to clean household energy use.

The Supreme Court of India, earlier this week voiced its concern on the yellowing of the Taj Mahal, India’s most visited tourist spot. Conservationists have attributed the discolouring of the monument to escalation of atmospheric pollution and presence of chemicals in the air.

As per the WHO’s fresh data, primary source of which was official reporting from governments through each city’s monitoring stations, 70 lakh people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air the world over.

“Air pollution threatens us all, but the poorest and most marginalized people bear the brunt of the burden,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. Fine particles in polluted air cause an estimated one-quarter (24 per cent) of all adult deaths from heart disease, 25 per cent from stroke, 43 per cent from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 29 per cent from lung cancer, the report elaborated.

Anumita Roy Chowdhury, head of think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)’s Clean Air Campaign, said, “The data shows it’s a national crisis for India. In 2013, four Indian cities made it to the top 20 most polluted cities of the world as per WHO. In year 2014, the number rose to five Indian cities. In 2015, it became seven, and in 2016, it is 14.”

“Also, it shows that our tier II and III cities in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, etc., are far more polluted than Delhi. Their levels are showing up now only because of increased number of air monitoring stations,” she highlighted.