Uttar Pradesh and Haryana alone accounted for six of these 10 cities.Of the 248 cities with reliable air quality data, 123 breached India’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter. Among the 97 NCAP cities with sufficient data, 46 exceeded India’s daily PM2.5 standards. Haryana, Bihar, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh also reported widespread non-compliance.Nationally, air quality remained skewed towards unhealthy scores. Only 21 cities recorded good’ air, 103 fell under satisfactory and 92 under moderate. Nearly half of India’s monitored cities logged PM2.5 levels above safe standard in Jan.

Source: Economic Times February 07, 2026 11:34 UTC