Delhi Ranks Second in India’s Mid-Year Pollution Report; Byrnihat Tops the List
New Delhi:
Delhi has emerged as the second most polluted city in India for the first half of 2025, according to a mid-year assessment released by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) on Friday. The report highlights the limitations of vehicle-centric pollution control and calls for a broader, multi-sectoral strategy.
Between January and June 2025, Delhi experienced 29 days with ‘very poor’ air quality and only three days in the ‘good’ category. There were also 63 ‘moderate’, 52 ‘satisfactory’, and 31 ‘poor’ days, along with three days falling under the ‘severe’ category.
The report found that Delhi’s PM2.5 levels reached 87 µg/m³, more than twice the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). It warned that even if air quality improves in the coming months, the city is unlikely to meet annual compliance targets.
“A serious response to Delhiʼs air pollution problem requires a multi-sectoral approach that applies the same level of attention and regulatory effort to power and industry as is currently applied to transport and agriculture,” the report emphasized.
While initiatives like the end-of-life vehicle ban have helped, CREA stated that focusing solely on vehicles overlooks other persistent pollution sources, such as thermal power plants and industrial emissions. Of the 11 coal-based power plants within 300 km of Delhi, only two—NTPC Dadri and Mahatma Gandhi—have operational flue gas desulfurization (FGD) units as of mid-2025, despite Supreme Court directives.
Byrnihat: India’s Most Polluted City So Far in 2025
Byrnihat, a town on the Assam-Meghalaya border, topped the pollution chart with an average PM2.5 concentration of 133 µg/m³. It reported 75 days of ‘very poor’ air, 38 ‘moderate’ days, 27 ‘poor’ days, and 13 days in the ‘severe’ category. Notably, Byrnihat did not record a single day of ‘good’ air quality.
Aizawl Named Cleanest City in India
At the opposite end, Aizawl in Mizoram reported the cleanest air during the first half of 2025, with an average PM2.5 level of just 8 µg/m³. The top 10 cleanest cities also included three from Karnataka, two each from Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, and one city each from Mizoram, Manipur, and Madhya Pradesh.
Pollution Trends Across the Country: Majority of Cities Exceed WHO Limits
The CREA report revealed that 259 out of 293 monitored cities exceeded the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual PM2.5 standard by mid-2025. Month-wise, the number of non-compliant cities stood at 107 in January, 114 in February, 21 in March, 10 in April, four in May, and three in June, indicating that air pollution is widespread and not confined to traditional hotspots.
Only three cities exceeded India’s own NAAQS limit during this period, pointing to the urgency of revising the 2009 standards to match international health guidelines.
Most Polluted Cities List Dominated by Bihar and Odisha
Apart from Byrnihat and Delhi, other cities in the top 10 most polluted list include Hajipur, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, Sasaram, Patna, Talcher, Rourkela, and Rajgir. Bihar accounted for four cities, followed by Odisha with two, and one each from Delhi, Assam, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
The CREA assessment stresses the urgent need for a comprehensive, multi-sectoral air quality management strategy. As current efforts remain heavily skewed towards transport and agriculture, without addressing power and industrial emissions, long-term improvement in air quality will remain elusive.
