Pollution report based on old data: Environment ministry

Even as the country responds in shock to the new WHO report that pegs Indian cities to be the most polluted in the world (14 out of top 20), the environment ministry on Wednesday came out in defence of its actions with regards to tackling air pollution. The ministry also took pains to highlight that while the survey analysed data gathered between 2010 to 2016, its policies and actions have improved air quality in 2017and that even 2018 has seen steady improvement.

“The improvement in Particulate Matter concentration in Delhi has happened in spite of episodic events in two successive years in November 2016 and November 2017. During these months, in addition to local emissions, there was substantial contribution from regional sources, including smoke due to stubble burning in neighbouring states and dust from Gulf countries,” the ministry’s response stated.

“The government has also taken several bold initiatives, including leap-frogging from BS-IV to BS-VI,” it added.

WHO said that data between 2010-2016 showed that Delhi was the most polluted city, followed by Greater Cairo in Egypt. Mumbai was fourth on the list, ahead of Beijing.

WHO’s analysis of particulate matter 2.5 pollution (PM 2.5) showed that the top 10 polluted cities were from India. Kanpur had the highest concentration of PM 2.5 followed by Faridabad, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Muzzafarpur and Srinagar.