Airpocalypse
According to the WHO (World Health Organization) report, 13 out of 20 most polluted cities in the world are located in India.
India’s pollution levels have been rising at an alarming rate as coal consumption almost doubled and oil consumption increased by 60% from 2005 to 2015. Data gathered by Greenpeace India from the state pollution control board shows that there are virtually no places in India complying with WHO and National Ambient Air Quality (NAAQ) standards and most cities are critically polluted. Except for a few places in Southern India, which complied with NAAQ standards, the entire country is experiencing a public health crisis due to high air pollution. There are increasing numbers of people who die prematurely every year with the increasing pollution levels; it is killing 1.2 million Indians every year and unfortunately citizens of India are not aware of the health hazards of SO2 & NO2 emission.
The government of India introduced strict emission norms for coal-based TPPs in December 2015 with a deadline to meet the standards by December 2017. However, the thermal power plants are yet to start the work on implementing measures to meet these enhanced emission standards and at this pace majority of them will miss the deadline and continue to put public health in danger.
India, 2009 -2017.
Note: Part of the project was commissioned by Greenpeace India.
