Bengaluru: Hacking coughs, smogs hindering visibility, schools stopping physical classes, construction being halted for some days, private vehicles not permitted to ply on many others – residents of Delhi witnessed all this and more due to hazardous levels of air pollution in 2024.

Now, a detailed analysis by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released on Monday (January 6) shows that the annual concentration of fine particulate matter – a major air pollutant – increased by 3.4% in 2024 in Delhi when compared to 2023. And alarmingly, this has occurred despite a huge decrease (by 71.2%) in the counts of stubble fires during the winter of 2024. This clearly points to local and regional sources of pollution, including vehicular emissions, open burning of waste and dust from construction and other sectors, causing air pollution in the national capital, the report said.

Increase in levels of fine particulate matter

Analysts at CSE assessed annual and seasonal trends in the concentration of fine particulate matter (or PM2.5, particulate matter that is less than 2.5 microns in diameter and is a major air pollutant that is released from sources including construction dust, emissions from thermal power plants and vehicles) between October 1 and December 31 across seven years – 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 – using real time data from 37 air quality monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR.

The team found that in 2024, the annual concentration of PM2.5 increased to 104.7 µg/m3, up by 3.4% from 2023. This is more than twice the ideal levels prescribed by national standards. As per India’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 2019, the concentration of PM2.5 should ideally be no more than 40 µg/m3 annually.

Delhi’s PM2.5 levels, therefore, have increased after a decline and stabilisation that the city witnessed between 2018 and 2022. The spike in the levels of PM2.5 in Delhi “cannot be........

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