While the worsening air quality in Delhi has become talk of the town, the air quality closer home in Udaipur has been reported to be much below satisfactory levels. The level of pollutants in air in Udaipur are over twice the satisfactory levels.

Air quality is measured by the Air Quality Index (AQI). For measuring air quality, the level of Particulate Matter (PM) in the air is measured. PM10 refers to the size of particulate matter in the air that are below 10 microns.

For PM10, AQI of 100 is considered satisfactory. In comparison, Udaipur reported an AQI of 218. The levels in Delhi are at 468. So, while we may be better off than the worst performers, but we still need to worry given that our air quality levels are twice as worse as what is considered satisfactory.

The levels at which Udaipur currently is, we may not feel the immediately need to act since the levels of pollution are not as visible as in Delhi. But does this mean that we should wait till we are pushed against the wall and act in a case of no choice?

Readers may note that last year Udaipur was featured amongst the top-100 polluted cities in the world by World Health Organization (WHO) in their urban air quality database.

Though air quality may not impact us visibly, but as urban air quality declines, the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma, increases for the people who live in those cities.

High time administration rises up to the challenge and starts taking steps – be it on tighter control over industrial pollutants or vehicular pollutants.