Delhi, Noida and rest of NCR breathe poisonous air - check world's top 10 polluted cities

Thick smog continues to cover Delhi-NCR skies as the air pollution reach hazardous levels

Pic courtesy: Reuters

New Delhi: There is no respite to bad in the capital, with the air quality dipping once again on Saturday (November 13) morning. As on 8.54 am and according to IQAir, Delhi's AQI stood at 556. According to data available from the same site, Noida's AQI stood at 405 (7.30 am) while Ghaziabad's at 427 (at 8.30 am).

On Friday (November 12), authorities advised people to limit outdoor activities and told government and private offices to cut vehicle use by at least 30 per cent as air quality in Delhi-NCR inched towards the emergency level amid a rise in emissions from farm fires and unfavourable meteorological conditions.

Farm fires have played a major role in pushing the air quality of NCR from bad to worse literally. Weather, is adding to the woes. A sub-committee on Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) said meteorological conditions will be highly unfavourable for dispersion of pollutants till November 18 and agencies concerned must be fully ready to implement measures under 'emergency' category.

What's further concerning is the fact that three Indian cities feature in the top 10 most polluted cities in the world. The per air quality and pollution city ranking on November 13, as on 8.54 am on IQ Air is as follows:

1) Delhi, India (AQI: 556)
2) Lahore, Pakistan (AQI: 328)
3) Chengdu, China (AQI: 176)
4) Mumbai, India (AQI: 169)
5) Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (AQI: 167)
6) Karachi, Pakistan (AQI: 165)
7) Kolkata, India (AQI:165)
8) Sofia, Bulgaria (AQI: 164)
9) Dhaka, Bangladesh (AQI: 160)
10) Belgrade, Serbia (AQI: 159)

AQI index keeps changing real-time, and averages are calculated in different ways by different institutions. SAFAR-India had this data to show as of today morning for NCR:

Whatever be the variations, what remains undeniable is the severity of the air that NCR is breathing particular and India in general.