Delhi Ranked World's Most Polluted Major City on Diwali Eve: IQAir Reading 581, India's Own Index 363 'Very Poor'
NEW DELHI — India's capital, Delhi, was ranked the world's most polluted major city on the morning of Saturday, November 7, in the live ranking of Swiss air-quality monitoring group IQAir. IQAir put Delhi's U.S. air quality index at 581 at 10:35 a.m. local time, roughly double the 285 recorded for Lahore, Pakistan, in second place; on the U.S. scale, any reading above 300 is considered hazardous for the entire population.
India's Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), using its own methodology, put Delhi's index at 363 at 10 a.m., in the 'very poor' category. The two indexes use different scales and are not directly comparable, but both pointed to the same conclusion: Delhi's air had deteriorated to levels dangerous to health. Indian media reported that 18 of the city's 59 monitoring stations recorded 'severe' readings on Saturday morning.
Local media, citing official data, said Friday's air quality was the worst recorded in Delhi on the eve of Diwali in eight years. Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, falls on November 8 this year, and widespread firecracker use during the festival routinely worsens the city's pollution; Delhi's air quality early warning system had forecast that conditions could slip from 'very poor' into the 'severe' category starting Saturday.
Delhi sinks into smog every autumn and winter, as vehicle exhaust, construction dust and industrial emissions combine with smoke from crop-residue burning in neighbouring states under stagnant weather. India's Supreme Court had ruled that certified 'green crackers' could be used in Delhi and its surrounding region only on November 7 and 8, with the full firecracker ban restored from November 9.
The Delhi metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people. GSM reported on November 4 that New Delhi's air quality index of 379 was 'very poor' and that second-stage emergency measures had been activated ahead of Diwali; three days later, the city stood at the top of the global pollution ranking.
(Source: Reuters)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：印度北部上空雾霾卫星图（资料图），美国国家海洋和大气管理局（NOAA），公共领域（Wikimedia Commons），本站档案图复用。 / Photo: Satellite view of haze over northern India (file photo), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), public domain (via Wikimedia Commons), GSM archive reuse.
