Pollution in Kolkata worse than Delhi in past 72 hours; experts pin blame on complacency, large number of diesel vehicles

While pollution in Delhi had hit national headlines immediately after Diwali earlier this month, the air quality in Kolkata has become even worse than the national capital in the past 72 hours, media reports said.

Traffic in Kolkata. File image. PTI

The overall PM 2.5 count at Kolkata's Rabindra Bharti University (RBU) on Thursday was 381, compared to 292.25 in Delhi's Ashok Vihar, one of the capital's most polluted localities, The Indian Express reported. The air quality in Kolkata remained worse than Delhi on Friday, although it improved in comparison to the capital on Sunday.

The Times of India quoted environmentalists as saying that this was due to proactive measures against pollution in Delhi and complacency in Kolkata. The report quoted an auto emission expert, Somendra Mohan Ghosh, as saying that the latter city has more vehicles which run on diesel than on petrol, which contributes to the deteriorating air quality.

Delhi's air quality slipped to the "very poor" category due to slow wind speed and high humidity on Sunday, authorities said.

The capital's air quality had shown significant improvement on Wednesday and Thursday after rain washed away the pollutants, but the rainfall also led to increased air capacity to hold pollutants, the SAFAR said.

With inputs from PTI