North India emer𒐪ged as the most-polluted region in the country in summers this year with Delhi-NCR being the hotspot, accordi🅰ng to a new analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
The green think-tank said the average PM2.5 concentration in north India in summers stood at 71 micrograms per cubic met💃༺re.
It was 69 micrograms per cubic metre in east India, 54 micrograms per cubic metre in west India, and 4ღ6 micrograms per cubic metre in central India, it said.
Northeast India (35 microgra🌠ms per cubic metre) and South India (31 micrograms perꦿ cubic metre) were cleaner compared to other regions, it said.
In🐲 north India, Delhi-NCR was found to be the most-polluted sub-region, with Bhiwadi reporting the highest average PM2.5 concentration of 134 micrograms per cubic metre.
Manesar reported an average PM2.5 concentration of 119 micrograms per cubic metre, Ghaziabad (101 microg♍rams per cubic metre), Delhi (97 micrograms per cubic metre), Gurugram (94 micrograms per cubic metre) and Noida (80 micrograms per cubic metre), it said.
PM2.5 summer average of the Delhi-NCR region is almo♒st three times the average of the c🌳ities in southern India.
The CSE used granular real𒀰-time data from the Central Poll🍃ution Control Board's portal -- Central Control Room for Air Quality Management for the analysis.
The data is captured from 356 official stations under the Continuous Ambient Air Q🐭uality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) spread across 174 cities in 26 states and Union territories.
(Inputs from PTI)
