Pollution getting worse in Indian cities, says UN climate change chief Rajendra Pachauri

NEW DELHI/ BEIJING: A study pointing that the pollution levels in New Delhi is worse than that of Beijing may have been quoting the data from the worst period of the year but the air quality in Indian cities is progressively getting worse, UN climate change chief Rajendra Pachauri said today.

“We also have to allow the fact that there are variations in the composition of PM 2.5 in the atmosphere which varies from season to season. It may very well be the study they are quoting is that of the worst period during the year,” he told media here at a pre launch function of the report on the India China Low Carbon Study.

The report will be formally launched tomorrow.

But at the same he said the situation is progressively getting worse in Delhi and Bengaluru and even in second rung cities like Ludhiana.

“Frankly I have to look at the numbers to be able to comment. All I can say it is getting progressively worse,” he said responding to questions on a study by Yale University stating that Delhi's air quality is worse than that of Beijing, which is battling out worst polluted smog considered to several higher than the levels prescribed by the WHO.

Mr Pachauri, chairman of the UN Intergovern mental Panel on Climate Change, was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore in 2007.

The Yale data was contradicted by officials in Delhi who contradicted it citing data of their own obtained from monitoring stations on the ground.

About the quality of the data provided by the officials in Delhi, he said, “There are gaps in Delhi data. It is an issue needs to be investigated properly”.