4 Rajasthan cities in world’s most polluted list, Jodhpur the worst - Hindustan Times
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4 Rajasthan cities in world’s most polluted list, Jodhpur the worst

Hindustan Times | ByHT Correspondent, New Delhi
May 13, 2016 04:53 PM IST

Four of the world’s 100 most polluted cities are in Rajasthan, said a World Health Organisation report released on Thursday, indicating industrial and vehicular exhaust were choking the state with little oversight or monitoring mechanism.

Four of the world’s 100 most polluted cities are in Rajasthan, said a World Health Organisation report released on Thursday, indicating industrial and vehicular exhaust were choking the state with little oversight or monitoring mechanism.

Jodhpur is Rajasthan’s most polluted city and grabbed 30th spot in the global rankings, followed by Jaipur at 33rd. Kota was at 58th and Udaipur was at 59th position respectively.(HT/File photo for representation)
Jodhpur is Rajasthan’s most polluted city and grabbed 30th spot in the global rankings, followed by Jaipur at 33rd. Kota was at 58th and Udaipur was at 59th position respectively.(HT/File photo for representation)

The Capital is no longer the world’s most polluted city, dropping to 11th position with smaller towns galloping past Delhi to grab second and third spot. The top spot is taken by the Iranian city of Zabol that falls in the middle of a dust bowl. Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh take the second and third spots, respectively.

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Jodhpur is Rajasthan’s most polluted city and grabbed 30th spot in the global rankings, followed by Jaipur at 33rd. Kota was at 58th and Udaipur was at 59th position respectively.

The report considered annual average concentration of the particulate matter (PM) 2.5 in 3,000 cities from 103 countries. Delhi’s data is from 2013 and that for most Indian cities are from 2012.

The previous WHO report — released two years ago that named Delhi as the world’s most polluted city — used data till 2010.

Jodhpur’s PM 2.5 count was at 101 micro gram per cubic metre of air – five times the WHO safe limit of 20 and more than double the Indian standard of 40. Jaipur’s PM 2.5 count was 100, Kota’s was 84 and Udaipur’s was 83.

Tiny particulate matter can cause lung cancer, strokes and heart disease over the long term, as well as triggering symptoms such as heart attacks that kill more rapidly.

The Capital’s pollution slightly improved with PM 2.5 concentration falling from 153 micro gram per cubic metre of air in the previous WHO report to 122 but was still six times above the safety limit of 20.

The report — the Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database — showed India’s upcoming towns and cities were grappling with toxic air, possibly because of limited government intervention and increasing vehicular congestion.

India’s pollution watchdog data for the last 15 years show mounting air pollution in smaller cities such as Gwalior, Allahabad, Kanpur, Jodhpur, Ludhiana and Bhopal has outpaced that in big metro cities.

“These upcoming cities are public transport nightmare,” said Sunita Narain, Director General of the Delhi based air pollution advocacy group the Centre for Science and Environment. “These cities need to be made smart with relation to public transport and health”.

Uttar Pradesh had four of the world’s 20 most polluted cities. Other than Allahabad, the other UP cities in the top 20 are Kanpur (15), Firozabad (17) and Lucknow (18).

Bihar’s capital Patna is sixth, Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur seventh, Punjab towns of Ludhiana and Khanna are 12th and 16th respectively. Uttar Pradesh has largest number of polluted cities followed by Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

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