Kejriwal says Delhi not among world's polluted cities, cites HT report

On January 29. Mumbai was placed at the tenth spot in the rankings for the poorest position. It climbed up to the second spot on February 2 before dropping in the next few days. It took the second spot again on February 8. On February 13, it took over Delhi as the most polluted city in India.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said Delhi is no longer among the most polluted cities of the world. He shared a screenshot of an infographic related to a story by Hindustan Times listing top 10 most polluted cities of the world. The list has been prepared by Swiss air tracking index IQAir, a real-time air quality monitor.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. (Sanchit Khanna/ HT Photo) (HT_PRINT)

“After a long time, Delhi is not in the list of most polluted cities of the world. Efforts of Delhiites are slowly but surely paying off. Congrats Delhi! But its still a long way to go. We have to be counted in the most clean cities of the world”, the chief minister tweeted.

On January 29. India's financial capital was placed at the tenth spot in the rankings for the poorest position. It climbed up to the second spot on February 2 before dropping in the next few days. It took the second spot again on February 8. On February 13, it took over Delhi as the most polluted city in India and was the third most unhealthy city worldwide. The list is currently topped by Lahore in Pakistan.

2. Mumbai (India)

3. Kabul (Afghanistan)

4. Kaohsiung (Taiwan)

5. Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan)

6. Accra (Ghana)

7. Krakow (Poland)

8. Doha (Qatar)

9. Astana (Kazakhstan)

10. Santiago (Chile)

IQAir is a Swiss air tracking index which collaborates with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Greenpeace. The real-time global air quality monitor measures air quality in India with the help of data from the Central Pollution Control Board.

According to the US air quality index, the cities are categorised as ‘healthy', ‘unhealthy’ and ‘hazardous’.