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Airpocalypse II: assessment of air pollution in Indian cities

Airpocalypse-II, a Greenpeace India report , analyses PM10 annual average recorded for 280 cities which have 630 million, or 53% citizens of the country’s total population. A massive part of the population, 580 million (47%) of the population are living in areas where no air quality data is available. Out of 630 million close to 550 million people live in areas exceeding national standards for PM10, including 180 million living in areas where air pollution levels are more than twice the stipulated limit of 60g/m3which has been set by Central Pollution Control Board. The report highlights that as many as 47 million children under the age of five years are residing in areas where PM10 levels exceeded CPCB annual limits, including 17 million children under the age of five who are in the areas where pollution levels are more than twice the limits. Children are worst affected in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra and Delhi respectively. Together these states are home to 12.9 million children who are below or upto five years of age trapped in bad air exceeding by more than twice the annual standard.

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