THIS CITY HAS DETHRONED DELHI TO BECOME THE MOST POLLUTED CITY IN THE COUNTRY

Air pollution has been a rampant problem across the length and breadth of the country. While one might hear that Delhi is the worst in terms of air quality, it now seems that another city has outdone the national capital.

Kolkata has dethroned Delhi to earn the title of the 'Most Polluted City' in the country. The Air Quality Index (AQI) though is surprising, given that the traffic congestion in Kolkata is only one-fourth as compared to that of Delhi.

According to a report in Indian Express, Kolkata has surpassed the particulate matter (PM) level in New Delhi. And you’d be surprised to know that this change has happened in a mere 72 hours.

The National Air Quality Index website showed that the overall PM 2.5 count at Rabindra Bharati University (RBU), one of the two stations in the city, stood at 381 (very poor) on Thursday when compared to Delhi’s Ashok Vihar, considered to be the national capital’s most polluted zones.

Environmentalists believed that while abysmal air quality drove Delhi into a panic mode that ultimately forced it to find solutions to a cleaner air, Kolkata’s complacent approach towards the rising PM 2.5 levels had led to a deterioration in its AQI.

Fondly referred to as the 'City of Joy', Kolkata's air quality drops every year around winter when inversion of temperature traps finer particulate matter closer to the ground leading to adverse health effects.