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Despite a 5.9% decrease, Delhi remains most polluted city in India in 2023: NCAP Report

Delhi maintained its status as the most polluted city in India out of a list of 92 cities in the country in the year 2023, according to a five-year National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) report prepared by Climate Trends and Respirer Living Sciences, using data from the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations network.

The report pointed out that despite a 5.9 per cent decrease in PM 2.5 levels over the last five years, Delhi falls short of NCAP targets.

Union government data revealed that only 28 per cent (Rs 10.77 crore) of the Rs 38.21 crore allocated to Delhi under NCAP has been utilised. The Delhi government did not respond to queries about the expenditure.

Delhi recorded an annual average PM 2.5 concentration of 102 µg/m3 in 2023, the highest among 92 cities with sufficient air quality monitoring data, including state capitals such as Mumbai, Bhopal, Lucknow, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru, followed by Patna.

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In this list, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, and Meerut were among the other NCR towns and cities ranking in the top 10 for PM 2.5 levels in 2023. Despite a 5.9 per cent reduction compared to the 2019 average of 108.4 µg/m3, Delhi’s air quality worsened in 2023 compared to 2022 when the annual average PM 2.5 level was 99.5 µg/m3, according to The Indian Express.

Regarding PM 10 levels, Delhi exhibited a smaller improvement of 3.9 per cent, decreasing from 216.8 µg/m3 in 2019 to 208.4 µg/m3 in 2023.

In terms of PM10 levels, Delhi ranked as the second most polluted city (after Patna) out of 93 cities with sufficient data in 2023. The report emphasized that there is still much progress needed to achieve the 40 per cent reduction target set by NCAP for 2026.

The NCAP, launched in 2019 to address air pollution, initially aimed to reduce particulate matter levels by 20% to 30% by 2024. Funds under NCAP have been allocated to 131 ‘non-attainment’ cities (cities exceeding national air quality standards for five years) in the country since the 2019-20 financial year.