As per the report that was released on Tuesday, Delhi is followed by Dhaka, N’Djamena, Dushanbe and Muscat
Representational Image. AFP
Delhi has topped the list of most polluted capital cities in the world in 2021 for the fourth time in a row, as per the World Air Quality Report, prepared by Swiss organisation IQAir.
As per the report that was released on Tuesday, Delhi is followed by Dhaka (Bangladesh), N’Djamena (Chad), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Muscat (Oman).
As per the report, 35 of 50 cities with the worst AQI were Indian.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, the study also found that air quality in China continued to improve as more than half of its cities saw lower levels of air pollution when compared to the previous year. Pollution levels within the capital city of Beijing continued a five-year trend of improved air quality, driven by emission control and reduction of coal power plant activity and other high emission industries, the report added.
No Indian city met WHO prescribed air quality standard: Report
None of the cities in India met the prescribed World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standards of 5 micrograms per cubic meter, the IQAir report said. The report, presenting an overview of the state of global air quality in 2021, is based on PM2.5 air quality data from 6,475 cities in 117 countries.
Hindustan Times said, the new guideline was released in September last year and cut the existing annual PM2.5 guideline value from 10 ug/m3 to 5 ug/m3. Fine particle pollution, known as PM2.5, is commonly accepted to be the most harmful, widely monitored air pollutant and was found to be a major contributing factor to health effects such as asthma, stroke, heart and lung diseases. PM2.5 leads to millions of premature deaths every year, it said.
The report added, “India also continues to feature prominently among the most polluted cities with 35 of the top 50 most polluted cities being in this country. India’s annual average PM2.5 levels reached 58.1 ug/m3 in 2021, ending a three-year trend of improving air quality.
It said, “India’s annual PM2.5 averages have returned to pre-quarantine concentrations as measured in 2019. Alarmingly, in 2021, none of the Indian cities met the prescribed WHO standards of 5 ug/m3.”
Delhi govt’s pollution subsistence grant from construction workers
As per a report by news agency ANI, the Delhi government on Thursday distributed Rs 5,000 each as the pollution subsistence grant amount to 83,183 construction workers, to support them.
These construction workers had not received the grant in November 2021 from the Delhi government due to the non-completion of the renewal process.
Notably, the Delhi government had distributed the pollution subsistence grant of Rs 5000 to all construction workers registered with Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (DBOCWWB), during the ban on construction activities in the national capital given high pollution levels in November last year, ANI said.
The Delhi government had announced an assistance of Rs 5000 each, to the workers and Rs 250 crore was released for this. Delhi government has already given a pollution subsistence grant of Rs 5000 each to 4,91,488 construction workers registered with DBOCWWB.
As per ANI, a total of Rs 245 crores have been distributed as welfare measures for construction workers and now additional Rs 41.9 crores will be distributed among 83,000 construction workers. Delhi currently has 8.5 lakh registered construction workers.
The amount of Rs 5000 will be credited to the accounts of the registered construction workers in the next two working days. All construction workers registered with the Construction Workers Welfare Board before 24 November 2021, when the ban on construction activities was imposed, are eligible for a pollution subsistence grant.
With inputs from agencies
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