Air Pollution Claims 620,000 Lives in India: Study

The report said "About seventy eight percent of the cities (141 cities) exceed the PM10 standard. Of this ninety cities have critical levels of PM10, twenty six cities have most critical level of PM10 exceeding the standard by more than three times."

Atmospheric particulate matter - also known as particulates or particulate matter (PM) - are tiny pieces of solid or liquid matter associated with the Earth's atmosphere.

"Multi-pollutant crisis means there is not just one pollutant, but there are many pollutants that are going together into the atmosphere and it is having a very bad effect on health. We need to strengthen our action plan.”

Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, CSE said "Zero ignition vehicles need to be encouraged and the growing dependency on private cars need to be curtailed."

CSE through its report has demanded timely introduction of 'Euro Five' and 'Euro Six' standards for emission as one of the ways forward to control air pollution.

(With PTI inputs)

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