Top 10 polluted cities in India: Delhi ranks second, the first is…

Diwali 2024: It is that time of the year when cities are lit up, and there is a slight chill in the air. With the winter approaching, days continue to grow shorter. But what has been growing more is the level of pollution across cities.

While the country's national capital, Delhi, may be the first guess in mind when it comes to the declining Air Quality Index (AQI), a glance at the list of top 10 polluted cities, today, October 29, reveals otherwise. 

Top 10 polluted cities in India

1.Bhiwadi: This city in Rajasthan has overtaken Delhi in terms of air pollution today, October 29, according to AQI.in, a website that provides real-time AQI for cities across India. Bhiwadi recorded an AQI of 437, which is considered ‘hazardous’.

2.Delhi: The National Capital has been waking up to ‘very poor’ category air quality for the past few weeks, gradually declining into the ‘severe’ AQI category. As of today, October 29, the average air quality was recorded at 318, ‘very poor quality’ in areas across Delhi.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.

The other cities in the list recorded ‘unhealthy’ air quality, with AQIs ranging around 240 to 290:

3. Rohtak : The city located in Haryana had an AQI of 294.

4. Mahesana : An AQI of 287 was recorded for this Gujarati city.

5. Sonipat: After Rohtak, Sonipat is the second most polluted city in Haryana which recorded an AQI of 279.

6. Gandhinagar: The Gujarat capital recorded 268 AQI.

7. Sambhal: 260 was the AQI for this city located in Uttar Pradesh.

8. Hapur: Once again a city located in UP, Hapur is the second most polluted city of the state, and recorded 251 AQI.

9. Bhiwani : This city is located in Haryana which had an AQI of 246.

10. Bulandshahr : This is the third most polluted city in Uttar Pradesh, which recorded 240 AQI. 

Several reasons including vehicular pollution, stubble burning in states such as Punjab and Haryana, industrial pollution, construction activities, and changing meteorological conditions can be attributed to the rising air pollution in the country.

(Disclaimer: The AQI data has been sourced from AQI.in, on October 29, 11 am.)

Catch latest updates here