GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 1644
ANSWERED ON 04.08.2010
MOST POLLUTED CITIES
1644 . Shri SANJAY SHAMRAO DHOTRE
JAI PRAKASH AGARWAL
MADAN LAL SHARMA
Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS be pleased to state:-
(a) whether the Government has conducted/proposes to conduct any survey about the
most polluted cities in the country;
(b) if so, the names of the cities as per their ranking and their position in the list of the
polluted cities of the world; and
(c) the existing level of pollution in each of these cities?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT AND
FORESTS (SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH)
(a)&(b) The Central Pollution Control Board and the State Pollution Control Boards are
monitoring the ambient air quality across the country under the National Ambient Air
Quality Monitoring Programme. Under this programme, ambient air quality is being
monitored at 424 stations covering 175 cities in respect of Sulphur Dioxide (SO2),
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Particulate Matter of
(size less than 10 micro metre (PM10).
The air quality data for the year 2009 indicates that the levels of SO2 have remained the
National Ambient Air Quality Standards in all the cities. However, the levels of NO2
were exceeding the norms in Howrah, Asansol, Kolkata, Delhi, Jamshedpur, Raipur,
Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Jharia. During the same period, 91 cities/ towns were found
to be exceeding the standards in respect of PM10. The details may be referred at
Annexure-I.
As regards the rank of the list of the polluted cities of the World, there is no standard
methodology to rank the most polluted cities of the World. However, various
organizations have come out with their ranking of most polluted cities of the World based
on different parameters.
(C) The existing levels of pollution in 35 metro cities are provided at Annexure-II.
ANNEXURE
Annexure-I
Annexure referred to statement in reply to part (a) of Unstarred Q. No. 1644 due for
reply on 04.08.2010.
Cities in decreasing order of NO2 levels in 2009
(Annual average concentrations in micrograms per cubic meter)
Sl. No.
Cities Name
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Howrah
Asansol
Kolkata
Delhi
Jamshedpur
Raipur
Mumbai
Navi Mumbai
Jharia
Annual Average in
µg/m3
81
62
56
49
49
46
42
42
41
Cities in decreasing order of PM10 levels in 2009
(Annual average concentrations in micrograms per cubic meter)
Sl. No.
Cities Name
1
2
3
4
5
6
Jharia
Ludhiana
Khanna
Delhi
Ghaziabad
Kanpur
Annual
Average in
µg/m3
261
254
249
243
236
211
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
Gobindgarh
Lucknow
Amritsar
Gwalior
Firozabad
Kolkata
Agra
Indore
Ranchi
Jamshedpur
Sindri
Jodhpur
Asansol
Allahabad
Alwar
Jaipur
Nahan
Jalandhar
Jabalpur
Anpara
Jhansi
Bangalore
Paonta Sahib
Korba
Bhopal
Angul
Howrah
Dewas
Bhilai Nagar
Navi Mumbai
Mumbai
Thoothukudi
Hubli-Dharwad
Ramagundam
Jamnagar
Rourkela
Rajkot
Nagda
Talcher
Golaghat
Naya Nangal
Nagpur
Nalgonda
Visakhapatnam
Ahmedabad
206
197
190
187
187
187
185
183
182
172
166
164
163
160
153
151
141
140
136
134
127
122
118
117
115
115
114
113
112
111
109
108
107
106
106
106
105
105
104
103
101
99
98
97
95
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
Surat
Kota
Amravati
Chandrapur
Sibsagar
Anklesvar
Nashik
Patencheru
Berhampur
Vadodara
Aurangabad (MS)
Ujjain
Udaipur
Tezpur
Parwanoo
Cuttack
Kolhapur
Pune
Salem
Chandigarh
Hydrabad
Vijaywada
Bongaigaon
Kurnool
Vapi
Damtal
Shillong
Panaji
Bhubaneshwar
Gulbarga
Coimbatore
Vasco
Silvassa
Solapur
Chennai
Mormugao
Trivandrum
Shimla
Baddi
Nalagarh
91
91
90
90
89
89
89
87
87
86
86
86
85
83
83
83
82
82
82
81
80
80
80
79
78
77
77
75
75
74
74
73
71
71
70
67
65
64
63
63
Note: Data of Agra is of sensitive areas. Data as reported in monthly
summary sheet\Environmental Data Bank available as on date. National
Ambient Air Quality Standard Nov. 2009 for Residential, Industrial & other
areas (Annual average) for SO2 = 50 µg/m3, NO2 = 40 µg/m3 and RSPM = 60
µg/m3
Annexure-II
Ambient Air Quality in Metro Cities
(Concentrations in Microgramme per Cubic Metre)
S.No
City Name
1
2
3
4
5
6
Agra
Ahmedabad
Allahabad
Amritsar
Asansol
Bangalore
SO2
6
16
BDL
15
9
2009
NO2
21
21
24
35
62
PM10
185
95
160
190
163
16
40
122
7
9
6
17*
6
5
6
BDL
36
9*
8
BDL
16
8
18
17
29
41*
49
22
36
24
49
17*
31
12
56
36
115
70
74
164
243
80
151
136
172
183*
211
40
187
197
9
37
254
10
8*
6
6
25
43*
42
30
42
118*
109
99
Bhopal
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Chennai
Coimbatore
Dhanbad
Delhi
Faridabad
Hyderabad
Jaipur
Jabalpur
Jamshedpur
Indore
Kanpur
Kochi
Kolkata
Lucknow
Ludhiana
Madurai
Meerut
Mumbai
Nagpur
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Nashik
Patna
Pune
Rajkot
Surat
Vadodara
Varanasi
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
23
5
23
11
19
16
17
5
13
29
37
40
15
26
30
20
14
32
89
146
82
105
91
86
125
80
97
Source : Data as reported by CPCB/SPCBs/PCCs/NEERI
Note:- ‘-‘ Data not available/inadequate. BDL – Below Detection Limit (i.e. less than
4 micrograms per cubicmeter for SO2 and less than 9 micrograms per cubicmeter
for NO2). Data of Agra is of Taj Mahal is of sensitive Area. Data as reported in
monthly summary sheet\Environmental Data Bank available as on date. * - Data is
inadequate for annual average. Data for 2009 is average of data available as on date.
National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Residential Areas (Annual average) for
SO2 = 50 microgramme per cubic metre, NO2 = 40 microgramme per cubic metre
and PM10 = 60 microgramme per cubic metre.