Top 10 most polluted cities in India: Delhi ranks 1st; where do Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, Gurgaon, Chennai, stand?

Several cities in India, especially in northern states, are struggling with a significant rise in air pollution during the past few weeks. Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Rohtak, Allahabad, and other cities in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, etc witness severe air pollution during winter season. 

Delhi remained the most polluted city in India, according to AQI.in real-time data as of 7 am , November 22. Delhi’s air quality was recorded at 404 Friday morning, indicating hazardous air quality levels in the city. Apart from Delhi, Noida, Hissar, Muzaffarpur, Amritsar, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, remained in the list of top ten most polluted cities in the country. 

AQI of top 10 most polluted cities in India

According to real-time data provided by aqi.in, Delhi, followed by Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Hisar, Muzaffarpur, Jalandhar, etc remained among the most polluted cities in India. Most of the cities ranked in the top ten are from states like Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. 

Chennai, Bengaluru, Mumbai and other metro cities AQI

Unlike Delhi and Noida, many metro cities witnessed healthy AQI levels this Friday morning, including Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, etc.

Air pollution during winters

One of the major reasons behind significant rise in air pollution in India during winters is the depletion in temperature and rampant stubble burning in states like Punjab, Haryana and even Uttar Pradesh.

On November 18, Punjab recorded its highest single-day count of stubble-burning incidents this season, with 1,251 cases reported.

Data from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) shows that the total number of farm fires in the state has reached 9,655 this year. The surge underscores the ongoing challenge of stubble burning, a major contributor to air pollution in northern India. Another reasons like vehicular emissions, pollution from industrial units, etc also contribute in poor AQI.