After Lahore, Mumbai's air is the most toxic in the world, know the condition of Delhi

After Delhi's air pollution, now the concerns of Mumbai's air pollution have started troubling. Recently, in the global ranking, Mumbai has been shown as the second most air polluted city.

Much has been coming to the fore about Mumbai 's air pollution in recent months as compared to Delhi 's infamous pollution . Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has tweeted the global ranking in which Mumbai has been shown in second place. He has written the caption on this post, 'After a long time the national capital is not in the list of most polluted cities in the world.' However, it was a day when Delhi had the advantage of strong winds which carried most of the pollutants in the air. This ranking was issued by a Swiss firm which is given by the name IQ Air. This ranking usually keeps on changing.

While Mumbai's air quality has indeed worsened, new data from IQ Air is showing a different and worrying trend regarding the real picture. According to an exclusive report by NDTV, data shows that the pollution level in the national capital has consistently been double that of India's financial capital, Mumbai. It is based on the level of PM 2.5 pollutants. These microscopic and deadly particles (PM) can increase the risk to the human body. These particles can embed themselves deep in the lungs and in other organs.

New data shows how Delhi's air pollution levels have been higher than Mumbai's for every month in 2022, especially in November-December, when Mumbai's air pollution first made headlines for surpassing the national capital . And it's not just a matter of recent months. For the past four years, Delhi's annual PM 2.5 average has been 95 micrograms per cubic metre, while Mumbai's has been 45 micrograms.

Metropolises located on the coast usually benefit from sea air, which frees the city from pollution mainly from vehicular, construction and road dust. However, this winter, doctors have reported a spurt in patients with respiratory infections, especially among children. The data shows that PM 2.5 levels increased by 18 per cent in November and December as compared to the previous year. The government's figures reportedly show an increase of over 60 per cent over last November.

The data, which is presented alongside the World Health Organisation's guidelines for clean air (table below), shows just how far both cities are from the safe PM 2.5 limit of 5 micrograms per cubic metre. For last November and December, Delhi exceeded WHO's safe air quality standard by almost 40 times and Mumbai by almost 16 times – both very dangerous to health.