Post-Diwali, 93 of world's 100 most polluted cities in India
What's the story
After the Diwali celebrations on November 8, India has emerged as the home to 93 of the world's 100 most polluted cities. The data was released by AQI.in on November 9 and was last updated at 10:05am. Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar topped the global list with an AQI of 868, which is considered hazardous. Punjab's Faridkot and Bathinda followed with AQIs of 842 and 797, respectively.
Global rankings
Budaun, Hisar, and Amritsar followed next
Haryana's Sirsa was fourth globally with an AQI of 612, followed by Bhiwani in fifth place with an AQI of 548.
Uttar Pradesh's Budaun recorded an AQI of 489; Hisar had an AQI of 485.
Amritsar was eighth with an AQI of 451. Pakistan's Lahore came ninth with an AQI of 446, while Prayagraj rounded off the top 10 with an AQI of 440.
Hazardous levels
New Delhi ranked at 15th position
New Delhi was ranked 15th globally with an AQI of 380.
Lucknow was at the 20th position with an AQI of 344.
Kanpur followed at the 22nd spot with an AQI of 337.
Ghaziabad recorded an AQI of 331, while Greater Noida recorded one at 327.
Noida was ranked at the 30th position with an AQI of 307.
All these cities fall under the hazardous category for air quality.
Widespread issue
Pollution levels in central and western India
The rankings also showed that pollution was not restricted to North India. Central and Western India also recorded alarming levels of pollution.
Pune had an AQI of 278, Bhopal recorded an AQI of 284, and Patna had an AQI of 258.
Varanasi stood at 243 while Rajkot recorded an AQI of 242.
Global perspective
Rankings also included 6 locations outside India
The rankings also included six locations outside India in the top 100 polluted cities.
These were Lahore, Peshawar, and Islamabad from Pakistan, Kidbrooke and Catford from Britain, Mielec from Poland, and Sampit from Indonesia.
The data reflected pollution levels at a specific time but did not confirm if Diwali celebrations led to these readings.