Two hours from Delhi, this NCR city is the most polluted in India

Delhi 4th most polluted in country

Throughout November, Delhi continued to feature prominently among the most polluted cities in the country. According to the study, the Capital was the fourth most polluted city in India.

The average PM 2.5 concentration almost doubled, rising from 107 µg/m³ in October to 215 µg/m³ in November. The city recorded 23 ‘Very Poor’ days, six ‘Severe’ days and one ‘Poor’ day, with no day meeting the safe daily National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), as per the report.

Despite overall deterioration, the contribution of farm fires was much lower this year. The report said that the “average contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s PM 2.5 was around 7% in November, compared with about 20% last year,” with peak contributions reaching “roughly 22% this year versus 38% in the previous year”.

India’s pollution chart

“Despite a significant reduction in stubble-burning influence, 20 out of 29 NCR cities recorded higher pollution levels than the previous year, and many still did not register a single day within NAAQS limits. This clearly indicates that the dominant drivers are year-round sources such as transport, industry, power plants, and other combustion sources. Without sector-specific emission cuts, cities will continue to breach standards,” said Manoj Kumar, an analyst at CREA.

How NCR cities fared

As per the report, Ghaziabad topped the national chart with a monthly PM 2.5 average of 224 µg/m³. It also exceeded the daily NAAQS on all 30 days last month — recording 19 ‘Very Poor’ days, 10 ‘Severe’ days and one ‘Poor’ day.

Noida, Bahadurgarh, Delhi, Hapur, Greater Noida, Baghpat, Sonipat, Meerut and Rohtak were also among the 10 most polluted cities in India. Uttar Pradesh accounted for six of these cities, Haryana for three, along with Delhi.

CREA noted that “except for Bahadurgarh, none of the top 10 cities recorded even a single day within the safe daily NAAQS limit,” underscoring the severity of pollution across the region.

Several other cities such as Charkhi Dadri, Bulandshahr, Jind, Muzaffarnagar, Gurgaon, Khurja, Bhiwani, Karnal, Yamunanagar and Faridabad also recorded PM 2.5 levels above the NAAQS every day of November. The CREA report said that reflects the strength of local emissions in driving hazardous winter pollution.

The CREA analysis found that 36 cities across India appeared in the daily list of the top 10 most polluted cities through November — and Delhi and Ghaziabad featured the most frequently. Ghaziabad appeared 28 days, Noida 27 days, Hapur 24 days, and Greater Noida 21 days.

Bahadurgarh and Sonipat each featured 17 days, Baghpat 15 days, Meerut 14 days, Bhiwadi 13 days, and Rohtak 12 days.

This daily pattern further underscores how consistently the NCR dominated the country’s pollution charts throughout the month.

National decline in air quality

The national picture also showed a steep decline in air quality. Out of 255 cities with more than 80% of days monitored, 114 exceeded India’s daily PM 2.5 standard of 60 µg/m³.

There were only two cities that complied with the WHO’s 15 µg/m³ daily guideline — Shillong in Meghalaya and Gangtok in Sikkim.

Among the 99 National Clean Air Programme cities with adequate data, 46 exceeded the NAAQS and all 99 breached the WHO benchmark.

Among 156 non-NCAP cities, 154 recorded monthly averages above the WHO guideline and 68 exceeded the Indian standard.

Pollution chart by The Indian Express

The assessment also found a dramatic shift in city-level air quality categories between October and November. For instance, cities in the ‘Good’ range fell from 68 to 26, while those in the ‘Very Poor’ category surged from 1 to 22.

At the state level, Rajasthan had 23 of 34 cities above the NAAQS, followed by Haryana with 22 of 25 cities, and Uttar Pradesh with 14 of 20 cities. Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Punjab also reported high shares of polluted cities.