Bhubaneswar: SMOGGY future in store for Odisha capital city. The year 2024 had virtually warned of the ominous future the temple town will be staring at in the coming years.
Despite boasting of having significant green lungs, the year 2024 has left a warning that the State capital is treading on the path of Delhi and Chandigarh.
The City has scored a dubious distinction in the country last year as it has enlisted itself among the top-5 cities in the country having no satisfactory air quality for a longer duration in a year.
The warning is Bhubaneswar despite its proximity to sea breeze shares the infamous HIGH Table of polluted cities in the country that have no proximity to sea breeze.
India’s most polluted cities are non-coastal cities. But Odisha Capital is the lone polluted coastal city in the list.
With vehicular pollution, besides construction or road dusts, being considered as the prime player in poisoning the city air, the Capital city saw registering of a whopping 45K unit of motor vehicles in the year 2024.
The city now has a vehicle population of nearly 8 lakh, of which motor vehicles constitute a share of around 2 lakh.
The fast growing vehicle population vis-a-vis the population of the city has seemingly endangered its future.
DENIZENS BREATHE POLLUTED AIR FOR 150 DAYS IN 2024
The alarming fact for the denizens of the State Capital is they breathe polluted air for 150 days.
As per the data available with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Bhubaneswar has moderate to very poor air quality on following days in the year 2024
- MODERATE AQI – 102 Days
- POOR AQI – 48
- VERY POOR AQI – 8
- City lived with polluted air for a total of 150 days last year.
- Denizens breathed toxic air for 41% of days in a year
- This shows air pollution is a major worry for the burgeoning city of Odisha and east India.
BHUBANESWAR 2nd MOST POLLUTED CAPITAL IN EAST INDIA
While Delhi has been the CAPITAL of air pollution in India, Bhubaneswar, the Capital of Odisha, has a dubious distinction by emerging as teh 2nd most polluted capital in the eastern India.
Even, the metro city of Kolkata, capital of West Bengal, has fared cleaner than Bhubaneswar.
KOLKATA
- MODERATE AQI – 92 Days
- POOR AQI – 42
- VERY POOR AQI – 0
- Denizens here breathing poisonous air for 134 days in a year.
- They breathe foul toxic for 36% of days in a year
The CPCB data shows the denizens of Kolkata had not witnessed very poor AQI in 2024.
Moreover, the duration of poor and moderate AQI they lived with was lesser than what their counterparts in Bhubaneswar have endured.
PATNA POOR AQI LONGER THAN DELHI
Even as the national capital has hogged the limelight for reasons of deadly smog gripping the air in the year 2024, Patna trips down the National capital for hosting poor air quality for longer days.
PATNA VS DELHI
PATNA
- MODERATE AQI – 120 Days
- POOR AQI – 130
- VERY POOR AQI – 18
- TOTAL DAYS – 268 days in a 365 days
- Denizens in Patna breathing foul air for 73% of days in a year
DELHI
- MODERATE AQI – 143 Days
- POOR AQI – 70
- VERY POOR AQI – 70
- TOTAL Days – 283
Delhi remained in news in a big because it has hosted very poor air quality for 70 long days in year 2024 and unsatisfactory air quality for nearly 77% of days in a year.
