Not cars, but road dust is the biggest polluter in Delhi!

New Delhi: Amidst deteriorating air quality, a study was conducted to determine various sources of pollution in Delhi.

The study carried out by the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, reveals that road dust, burning of biomass and municipal solid waste, and industrial stacks contribute a far greater share of the city’s air pollution than vehicular pollution.

This is what the report says:

• Particulate Matter (PM) pollution from road dust, from various sources, was the highest in both categories: PM10 and PM2.5. Road dust contributed 56% of all PM10 pollution while it was 38% for PM2.5.
• Vehicular pollution from trucks, cars and two vehicles made up 9%-20% of the particulate matter pollution depending on whether it was summer or winter
• Other key contributors to pollution are burning of bio-mass (17%-26%), municipal solid waste (6%-7%) and secondary particulate matter that could range from 25%-30%.