Ludhiana among 20 most polluted cities in country, reveals study

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, January 15

In what appears to be another dubious distinction, Ludhiana has figured among 20 most polluted cities in the country, a latest study has revealed.

Amritsar and Mandi Gobindgarh in the state were also listed among the 20 most polluted cities in India with maximum pollution levels, the national-level National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) study has said.

While Ludhiana has been the worst among three most polluted Punjab cities with respect to PM10 pollution level, Mandi Gobindgarh has the maximum PM2.5 pollutants in the state.

The NCAP study, which was released recently, was conducted by Climate Trends and Respirer Living Sciences. It examined the annual concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 in non-attainment cities from 2019 to 2023 from the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) data.

“An uptime filter of 50 per cent was applied to the data from all monitoring stations for 2023. Only those monitors with pollution data available for at least half of the year, or six months, were considered in this analysis,” Climate Trends Director Aarti Khosla said.

She said the 50 per cent uptime filter was applied to the 2023 data so that comparisons could be made between cities as monitoring stations across the country record data for varying periods of time. The uptime filter also ensures that the data has a common variable – uptime – and as such, the data was more representative of the period of a year than if no filter was applied to the data. “After applying the 50 per cent uptime filter, data from all monitoring stations in a city was averaged to get the annual average city levels,” Khosla added.

The NCAP study, a copy of which is with The Tribune, showed that Ludhiana has ranked 14th most polluted city in the country with respect to both PM2.5 (60.09) and PM10 (131.8) pollution levels.

While Mandi Gobindgarh has figured 10th most polluted with respect to PM2.5 (67.9) pollutants and 15th with respect to PM10 (131.4) pollution level, Amritsar has ranked 16th most polluted city in India with respect to PM2.5 (59.3) pollutants.

While Delhi has been ranked the top most polluted city in the country with maximum PM2.5 (102) pollution level, the national capital has been put on second most polluted city with respect to PM10 (208.4) pollutants.

In PM10 pollution levels, Patna has emerged as the most polluted city in India with highest pollution level of 212.1, followed by Faridabad 196.4, Noda 194, Ghaziabad 184.3, Muzaffarpur 180.1, Meerut 169.7, Nalbari in Assam 153.9, Visakhapatnam 135.9, Surat 134.8, Baddi in Himachal Pradesh 134.7, Rourkela in Odisha 132.3, Gwalior 132.3, Jaipur 129.7, Asansol in West Bengal 128.5, Thane 126.7, Guwahati 126.5, and Badlapur in Maharashtra has been ranked 20th most polluted city in India with PM10 pollution level of 125.4.

When it comes to PM2.5 pollutants, Patna has ranked second most polluted city in the country with pollution level of 89.5, followed by Faridabad 87.9, Muzaffarpur 83.6, Noida 83.6, Meerut 81.2m Ghaziabad 78, Nalbari 70.4, Dhanbad in Jharkhand 70.3, Gwalior 65.2, Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh 64, Asansol 61.3, Baddi 60.2, Chandigarh 59.3, Rourkela 59.1, Guwahati 59, and Gaya in Bihar has emerged as 20th most polluted city in India with PM2.5 pollution level of 58.8.

Of 131, 99 cities have monitoring system

Of the 131 non-attainment cities, only 99 cities are equipped with continuous ambient air quality monitoring system (CAAQMS). The remaining 32 cities have manual monitors, which are part of the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). Of the 99 cities under the CAAQMS network, the 2023 data for all 99 NACs was available on the CPCB portal. Of these 99 cities, 92 had PM2.5 data with an uptime of 50 per cent, and 93 cities had PM10 data with an uptime of 50 per cent. The data till December 31, 2023, has been used in the analysis of the study.

About the study

The NCAP, launched in 2019 by the Union Government to combat air pollution in 131 non-attainment cities, has reached its initial five-year deadline. It has made air quality an important issue with good, consistent efforts but challenges remain in achieving targets that have been set. The programme’s initial target was to reduce PM10 and PM2.5 (ultra-fine particulate matter) by 20-30 per cent by 2024. The programme has received a substantial financial commitment of Rs 9,631.23 crore from the government to support its objectives. A positive development is the revision of the programme’s initial target to a 40 per cent reduction in particulate matter concentration by 2026, which demonstrates a commitment to more ambitious environmental goals.

Ludhiana worst in state

Ranked 14th most polluted city in the country, Ludhiana has emerged as the worst polluted city in the state when it comes to the PM10 pollution level. However, Mandi Gobindgarh, which has ranked 10th (PM2.5) and 15th (PM10) most polluted city in India, has the maximum PM2.5 pollutants in Punjab. Amritsar has ranked 16th most polluted city in India with respect to PM2.5 pollution level.