Ghaziabad tops India's pollution charts in November
Ghaziabad just took the unwanted title of India's most polluted city for November, with air quality far above safe limits every single day.
The city saw 19 "Very Poor" and 10 "Severe" air days, according to a new CREA report.
Northern cities struggle with dirty air
Most of the top 10 polluted cities were in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, with Delhi coming in fourth—its pollution nearly doubled since October.
Except for Delhi, all these cities saw worse air than last year.
Stubble burning isn't the only culprit
Even though stubble burning's impact on Delhi dropped from 20% to just 7%, pollution still spiked across most northern cities.
Only Bahadurgarh managed a single day within the national air quality limits.
Some places are breathing easy
While Rajasthan had most of its cities over pollution limits, Shillong in Meghalaya enjoyed the cleanest air at just 7 ug/m3.
Karnataka stood out too—six of India's 10 cleanest cities were there, showing how much air quality can vary across the country.