Gurugram among 30 most polluted cities in world despite improvements

The Millennium City was among the 30 most polluted cities in the world in 2020, according to a report by a Swiss group that ranked cities based on their air quality measured in terms of the levels of ultrafine particulate matter (PM 2

The Millennium City was among the 30 most polluted cities in the world in 2020, according to a report by a Swiss group that ranked cities based on their air quality measured in terms of the levels of ultrafine particulate matter (PM 2.5) that can enter the organs and cause lasting damage. While Gurugram ranked 24th among the world’s most polluted cities in 2020, it markedly improved from the 7th spot in 2019 and 1st spot in 2018.

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Officials said that Gurugram’s steady improvement is due to increased monitoring in the city by all stakeholders, although independent experts said that the meteorological conditions and the lockdown played a much bigger role in the ranking.

S Narayanan, member secretary of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), said, “The fact that air quality of Gurugram has been improving over the past two years is visible on the ground. This is due to increased monitoring by stakeholders like Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, who regularly work to ensure that air pollution is kept under control.”

As per the latest report, Gurugram recorded an annual average particulate matter (PM) 2.5 concentration of 75.3 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) in 2020, as against the average PM2.5 concentration of 93.1 µg/m³ in 2019.

The report states that PM 2.5 pollutant was chosen for the report because “it is currently understood to be the most harmful to human health due to its prevalence and far-reaching health risks. Exposure to PM2.5 has been linked to negative health effects like cardiovascular disease, respiratory illness, and premature mortality.”

In the National Capital Region (NCR), Gurugram fared better than Ghaziabad (2), Noida (6), Greater Noida (7), Delhi (10) and Faridabad (11).

The annual average PM2.5 concentrations in NCR cities were recorded at 106.6 µg/m³ in Ghaziabad, 94.3 µg/m³ in Noida, 89.5 µg/m³ in Greater Noida, 84.1 µg/m³ in Delhi and 83.3 µg/m³ in Faridabad. In the state, Faridabad’s air quality ranking dipped to 11 this year from 18 in 2019.

Explaining Faridabad’s fall in ranking, Narayanan said, “We admit that Faridabad still needs to work more to improve the air quality, with better monitoring on the ground.”

The report also ranked Bandhwari, a village located about 20 kilometres from Gurugram and is also the site of Haryana’s largest landfill at 22, with an annual PM2.5 concentration of 77.6 µg/m³ this year. The ranking of Bandhwari improved by 12 places since 2019.

Experts, however, are of the view that the improved air quality is due to meteorological factors and the lockdown to fight Covid-19.

Sachin Panwar, an independent air quality consultant in Delhi-NCR said, “The improvement in Gurugram’s air quality can be attributed to meteorological factors and elongated impacts of the lockdown like reduced emissions and traffic movement. There was not much change on the ground by the authorities. Another reason could be a reduction in cracker bursting hotspots in the city.”

The report lists transportation, biomass burning for cooking, electricity generation, industry, construction, waste burning, and episodic agricultural burning, as major sources of air pollution in the country.

Elaborating on the poor air quality in the country, the report states, “Despite widespread air quality improvements during 2019 and 2020, air pollution in India is still dangerously high. India continues to dominate annual PM2.5 rankings by city – 22 of the top 30 most polluted cities globally are located in India.”