Delhi air quality: Air quality across India worsened sharply in October, with the heaviest deterioration across the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the National Capital Region (NCR), according to a Monthly Air Quality Snapshot released by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Haryana’s Dharuhera topped the pollution list with an average PM2.5 level of 123 µg/m³, breaching the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (60 µg/m³) on 77% of days and logging two ‘Severe’ and nine ‘Very Poor’ days. It was followed by Rohtak, Ghaziabad, Noida, Ballabgarh, Delhi, Bhiwadi, Greater Noida, Hapur and Gurugram. Four cities, each from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, featured in the top 10, all within the NCR.
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Delhi placed sixth with an average PM2.5 concentration of 107 µg/m³, nearly triple September’s 36 µg/m³. CREA noted that stubble burning accounted for under 6% of the capital’s PM2.5 in October, underscoring the dominance of year-round emission sources and the need for long-term measures beyond short seasonal curbs like GRAP.
At the other end of the spectrum, Shillong (Meghalaya) was the cleanest city with an average PM2.5 of 10 µg/m³. The ten cleanest cities included four in Karnataka, three in Tamil Nadu, and one each in Meghalaya, Sikkim and Chhattisgarh.
Of 249 cities assessed using CAAQMS data, 212 stayed below India’s PM2.5 standard, yet only six met the WHO daily guideline of 15 µg/m³. Month-on-month, cities in the ‘Good’ category (0–30 µg/m³) fell from 179 in September to 68, while ‘Satisfactory’ (31–60) rose from 52 to 144; ‘Moderate’ (61–90) climbed from 4 to 27, nine cities entered ‘Poor’ (91–120) and one reached ‘Very Poor’ (121–250).
