[abhi7013]

Blood boils every time i see piles of dry leaves or garbage bring burnt. How illiterate can you be? The thick smoke spreads everywhere and even the nearby establishments keep mum.
Is there no way to control such acts? The government imposing fine or putting it out?
Then again, we cannot depend on the government for everything. I cannot fathom why morons go about doing this. We will never learn and continue to suffer for our ignorance. There's no point having kids if this is the future we give them.

[PrideRed]

So why is that all the 14 cities are up North? Not trying to start a North v/s South debate, but might be a good case study. Also surprised to see Srinagar up there, I felt the air quality was much better than Bangalore! Post no.6 in this thread also show Bangalore to be more polluted but doesnot feature in top 15.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

So why is that all the 14 cities are up North? Not trying to start a North v/s South debate, but might be a good case study. Also surprised to see Srinagar up there, I felt the air quality was much better than Bangalore! Post no.6 in this thread also show Bangalore to be more polluted but doesnot feature in top 15.

I think its all relative. And this could be based on some average readings and looking at one day might not be right. The same map does show 14 places more polluted than Bengaluru !

One factor that affects air quality is the humidity factor and wind. In that respect even Bengaluru has low humidity except on rainy days and have lots of valley like areas where air movement is limited. Allergies have similar reasons.

[AltoLXI]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

So why is that all the 14 cities are up North? Not trying to start a North v/s South debate, but might be a good case study. Also surprised to see Srinagar up there, I felt the air quality was much better than Bangalore! Post no.6 in this thread also show Bangalore to be more polluted but doesnot feature in top 15.

Maybe this is also the reason.

The report said that a dust storm, which swept across Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia in the last week of October and spilled onto the first week of November, severely affected Delhi's air quality.

[Slick]

Interesting statistic, in a sad way of course.

What I find intriguing is that all top 14 cities are to the north, Any particular reason ?
I am sure most Indian cities would be on the list. but the top mentioned in the first post are from North part of the country.

Do we have more polluting industries up north ? or is it the traffic (I don't think so) ? or law implementation for industry?


- Slick

[venkyhere]

Im no expert on this, but the north of the country being more polluted than south , could be because of (discounting the spread of factories and industries) :
1. more crop waste burning due to more agricultural cover in the north
2. Himalayas (keeps the air trapped)
3. the peninsula being surrounded by water, the sea offers fresh air down south, pushing the polluted air upwards and northwards to deccan plateau (bangalore) and beyond

[wangdu]

well, my hometown is right up there #2 but I don't know when and where did they take samples. Part of the city is largely free of pollution (just dust at times) but yes there are parts where there are concentrations of small/medium scale factories. But I believe most of them pollute land and water more than air but then hundreds of mini chimneys could be the reason.

Another reason I think is that the NH-19 that connects North with East/South via MP/UP passes through Faridabad district. And when those hundreds of trucks/buses pass Faridabad for North or leave go East/South, the volume of smoke is huge and bad.

I see no reason why Delhi, Gurgaon near NH48 (Delhi-jaipur) or Meerut (UP) would be any better. So, it seems samples taken during the time of the day and location could be the main reason behind the rankings.

Aside, the WHO report does say that samples from many of countries in Africa and pacific couldn't be tested. So, I'm taking the benefit of doubt and feeling better!

[PrasannaDhana]

I live in Trichy. Among the cleanest of Indian cities for many years now. I have lived in Pune and Chennai.

At times I miss the metropolitan Life, malls, traffic, stuff that I don't have in Trichy. But waking up every morning, walking on the walking ramp of Kollidam river's bridge, looking at the countless number of trees all along the bank, as long as my vision would allow me to see, inhaling the fresh air and smell of countryside, it overshadows any other feeling and emotions at that moment.

Please plant trees, no matter where you live. Atleast have a balcony/terrace garden. No better way to combat pollution than afforestation! And more importantly, avoid usage of plastics, more so with careless disposal of plastic bags and covers.

[Col Mehta]

Brakes my heart to see such reports. While everyone of us comes under the radar for being inconsiderate towards our environment, I see political apathy towards this grim situation a major factor behind this mess.

Religion, caste are the only topics they talk about now. Their vote bank politics is diverting everyone from the real issues - clean water, clean air, recycling, infrastructure, hospitals, schools and colleges, transparent bureaucracy, no corruption - nobody is interested. And that's how they thrive. Only when these corrupt politicians stop their nonsense and start working on these real issues, we would start seeing the changes. Nothing before that. Period. (Okay fine, we have seen some slogans, politicians holding brooms for publicity stunts etc) but we all know how committed they really are.

Obviously, all of us also need to sit up, take a note of this unprecedented situation and do something about it. I see people "demanding" poly bags from shopkeepers to carry half litre milk! And very conveniently dump it and get another one next day. Recycle/re-use - what's that? Nobody cares. What we do today (or don't do) would be our legacy and be passed on to our next generation who would suffer the most.

[anand.shankar]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

Blood boils every time i see piles of dry leaves or garbage bring burnt. How illiterate can you be? The thick smoke spreads everywhere and even the nearby establishments keep mum.
Is there no way to control such acts? The government imposing fine or putting it out?
Then again, we cannot depend on the government for everything. I cannot fathom why morons go about doing this. We will never learn and continue to suffer for our ignorance. There's no point having kids if this is the future we give them.

Plastic, all sorts of plastic, HDPE, LDPE, Diapers burnt by educated, well to do morons. Infact every night when I drive back home by 1230-130AM I see these same people sneaking out of their homes like gutter rats, with garbage bags to be dumped in some random corner. By the way, this is a layout where BBMP does collect garbage once a week consistently.

Even in my building after multiple remainders, the folks on the top floors just dump their garbage in the adjacent empty plots. the sight of the empty plots is disgusting with the plastic bags of different color and sizes.

And this is collective behavior! Are we so disgusting that we can live like animals ? Visual pollution and stench doesn't even bother people ? I was watching drone shots of Karachi and Islamabad on YT, they sure look cleaner than Indian cities.

[Cesc]

Seeing your kids grow up in this horrific pollution is probably the worst thing related to this. Their formative years are being shaped by this deadly pollution in pretty much every manner. Delhi-NCR with all its fancy schools is probably the worst region to be growing up in.

[nik0502]

I am quite surprised to see the rankings. Faridabad is number two? It is much better in terms of greenery. Also the population is quite less as compared to other metros. Though there are quite some manufacturing companies but I am still not able to believe that it is number two city on the list.

[giri1.8]

Let's accept it, we as car/bike enthusiast do contribute to the numbers directly or indirectly, would be nice if we could do something to reverse the damage! I am trying to do my part by reducing plastic use and planting saplings.

[Thermodynamics]

Sad to see this.

Years back, during my summer internship at Central Leather Research Institute, we used to support effluent treatment of leather industries. You know what, if nobody notices, some industries will discharge untreated water. The nearby ground water can be as dark as coke.

Honestly, I think we lack honesty.

I appreciate forum like ours that cry out pollution. Government definitely has a big role to play but IMO, Citizens have an even bigger role.

[sad:)]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

So why is that all the 14 cities are up North? Not trying to start a North v/s South debate, but might be a good case study. Also surprised to see Srinagar up there, I felt the air quality was much better than Bangalore! Post no.6 in this thread also show Bangalore to be more polluted but doesnot feature in top 15.

Originally Posted by srishiva

I think its all relative. And this could be based on some average readings and looking at one day might not be right. The same map does show 14 places more polluted than Bengaluru !

One factor that affects air quality is the humidity factor and wind. In that respect even Bengaluru has low humidity except on rainy days and have lots of valley like areas where air movement is limited. Allergies have similar reasons.

I personally feel Bangalore is very high on pollution. The data is collected over from a number of air quality sensors located in city. If you know Bangalore, any kid will tell that the East Bangalore(Whitefield to Bellandur), where the IT corridor are located is the worst in air pollution. but if you observe there are around 5-6 air quality sensor situated in city and mostly not in this region. There is only one on the outer ring road between bellandur and Maratahalli, and this always shows that the air quality is very very bad. So may be on averaging, they are able to prove that Bangalore air quality is very bad. you can search for "BWSSB, Bangalore Air Pollution: Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI)" you will get details of air quality along with the sensor location. This may also be the case for the cities which are high in the list. the data collection points may all be in high pollution areas.