PM2.5 levels almost double from 2021 in Belagavi to 45
According to a report by Swiss firm IQAir released on Tuesday, Belagavi with an annual average PM2.5 of 45.0 µg/m³ is ranked 159 (out of 7,323 cities). The cause of worry is the drastic increase in the PM2.5 levels which were 28.1 in 2021 has now reached 45.0 µg/m³ which exceeds 7-10 times the allowed number.
Delhi is placed as the world’s fourth-most polluted city on the planet with PM2.5 levels of 89.1.
In 2021 Belagavi was placed at 4th place and in 2022 we topped the list.
In 2021 The PM2.5 for Belagavi (Annual Average) stood at 28.1 which is 6 times above the World Health Organization (WHO) prescribed limit.
The new guideline was released in September 2021 and cut the existing annual PM2.5 guideline value from 10 µg/m3 to 5 µg/m3.
Fine particle pollution, known as PM2.5, is commonly accepted to be the most harmful, widely-monitored air pollutant and has been found to be a major contributing factor to health effects such as asthma, stroke, and heart and lung diseases. PM2.5 leads to millions of premature deaths every year.
In Karnataka, Belagavi ranks 1 in the most polluted city with an annual PM2.5 of 45.
2 Kalaburagi 37.7
3 Nelamangala 33.7
4 Anagalpura 33.4
5 Dharwad 32.7
6 Hubli 32.1
8 Bengaluru 31.5
23 Mysore 20.2
The World Air Quality Report, 2022, classifies over 7,300 cities across 131 countries and ranked them on the basis of the average recorded annual PM2.5 concentration in micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m3).
Over 2022, India recorded an annual PM2.5 of 53.3 μg/m3 – recording a marginal improvement from the average of 58.1 μg/m3 logged in 2021. This meant India improved by three ranks in the unenviable list – from the world’s fifth-most polluted country to eighth.
WHO’s annual safe limit for PM2.5 is just 5 μg/m3, while the national standards for the country are 40 μg/m3.
Of course Belgaum is highly polluted, no body has to tell me that. I live on Angol – Vadagaon Road, and the road work continues for the last 3 years. It is so dusty that residents along that road eat dust for breakfast, lunch & dinner. So what do we do? Who do we complain? I spoke to the corporator and he is of no help! I would appreciate anybody who would direct me to the right authority to bring this to their attention. Or is it that it’s all corrupt and just shut up and live with it??
Ksrtc buses are bad…you don’t have to check …just observe.
Also some factories work only at night when the so called authority sleeps.
Also this talks highly of the systems in place.
Either Belagavi statistics is honestly and brutally true figures while other cities in Karnataka have been shrewd to hide the whole truth.
Or else there is definitely a statistical error in Belagavi statistics…
That’s because the stupid government likes to destroy roads and build new ones for absolutely no reason. And sometimes they even forget about constructing the new road for 6-7 months conveniently, making people difficult to commute and blocking roads and whatnot. It’s not because of us, it’s because of the stupid government
I agreed, this is reality sir.
The most important thing which people are ignorig is reckless buring of leaves of plants, I told many people don’t burn they say nothing happens with tree leaves… So please and go check google
As per NAAQS 2009 PM2.5 IS 60microgram per cubic meter.