After Diwali, 93 of the world's 100 most polluted cities are in India: Worst AQI as high as 868; New Delhi not in Top 10

AQI.in rankings published after Diwali showed 93 Indian cities among the world’s 100 most polluted locations. New Delhi, however, was not among the Top 10 cities.

India dominated the world's most polluted cities ranking following Diwali celebrations on November 8. A staggering 93 Indian cities appeared among the world's 100 most polluted locations. The figures were published by AQI.in on November 9. The rankings were updated at 10:05 AM.

Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar topped the global list with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 868. The reading was classified as hazardous. Punjab's Faridkot followed with an AQI of 842. Bathinda secured third position with 797. The figures highlighted alarming pollution levels across several Indian states.

North India dominates pollution rankings

Haryana's Sirsa ranked fourth globally with an AQI of 612. Bhiwani followed with 548. Uttar Pradesh's Budaun recorded 489 while Hisar registered 485. Amritsar stood 8th with an AQI of 451. Pakistan's Lahore was 9th with 446. Prayagraj completed the Top 10 with an AQI of 440. All these locations were classified as hazardous. Other heavily polluted cities included Rohtak, Jaunpur, Patiala and Bulandshahr.

New Delhi ranked 15th globally with an AQI of 380. Lucknow occupied the 20th position with 344. Kanpur followed at 22nd with 337. Ghaziabad registered 331 while Greater Noida recorded 327. Noida ranked 30th with an AQI of 307. All these cities remained within the hazardous category.

Beyond North India

The rankings also highlighted severe pollution across central, eastern and western India. Pune recorded an AQI of 278. Bhopal registered 284 while Patna stood at 258.

Varanasi recorded 243 while Rajkot registered 242. Nashik reported 219 while Bhubaneswar recorded 200. West Bengal's Durgapur registered 197. Howrah recorded 187 while Kolkata registered 183. These figures showed that pollution was not limited to Delhi and neighbouring states.

Six locations outside India appeared among the top 100. These included Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad in Pakistan. Britain's Kidbrooke and Catford also featured. Poland's Mielec and Indonesia's Sampit completed the list.

The rankings captured pollution levels at a particular time. They did not establish whether Diwali celebrations directly caused these readings.

Nevertheless, India's overwhelming presence highlighted the country's serious air quality concerns. The figures presented a troubling picture of pollution across Indian cities.

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