Hyderabad sees air quality improvement: World Air Quality Report 2023

The Ministry of Environment in the Government of India has notified separate standards for PM2.5 and PM10.

Hyderabad: In four years, between 2019 and 2023, Hyderabad has recorded a significant improvement in terms of air quality.

According to the World Air Quality Report-2023, the city has shown an improvement in the air quality in 2023 when compared to the previous years from 2019.

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The data collated during the four-year period shows the concentrations of PM10 in Hyderabad dropping down from 101 micrograms per cubic meter in the year 2019-20 to 83 micrograms per cubic meter in 2023-24.

A similar decline in the PM10 concentrations were registered in the surrounding Patancheru, Sangareddy while the values in Nalgonda kept fluctuating during the same period, a statement issued by the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TS PCB) said.

This report was released with PM2.5 concentration basis by IQAir a Swiss-based air quality technology company based on the WHO guidelines.

As per the report, India is 3rd most air polluted country and five major cities of the country were also referred in the report.

The Ministry of Environment in the Government of India has notified separate standards for PM2.5 and PM10.

As per the standards, the PM10 for 24hrs is 100 µg/m3 and annual average is 60µg/m3. Based on the PM10 concentrations, the Central Pollution Control Board has identified four non-attainment cities exceeding the PM10 standards of 60µg/m3 for five years in Telangana – Hyderabad, Patancheru, Nalgonda and Sangareddy.

An action plan for reducing the particulate matter concentrations is under implementation and the following measures have been taken for improving air quality by utilizing the NCAP and XV Finance Commission funds focus on the hotspot areas and to have micro-action plan for mitigating, end-to-end paving of roads along with black-topping and maintaining pot holes free roads, among others.

The unauthorized dumping to be monitored and penalties to be imposed, TSRTC is to replace the diesel buses with e-buses in GHMC area, TSREDCO to facilitate the establishment of EV charging stations and installation of Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS) and pelican signals.

Concentrations of PM10 (in micrograms per cubic meter):

Location 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24

Hyderabad 101 98 97 87 83

atancheru 86 75 77 81 80

Nalgonda 57 51 57 54 57

Sangareddy 85 78 84 80 78

(Source: World Air Quality Report, 2023).