Air pollution kills upto 30k in Delhi every year: CSE

Air pollution is responsible for 10,000 to 30,000 deaths annually in Delhi making it the fifth leading cause of death in India, a report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on Tuesday said.

The publication ‘Body Burden 2015: State of India’s Health’ released on Tuesday also said that climate change is leading to greater frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

“...from 8,00,000 in year 2000 to 3.2 million in 2012. In Delhi, which was named as the most polluted city of the world by WHO in 2014, air pollution is responsible for 10,000 to 30,000 annual deaths,” it said.

CSE said that air pollution is one of the top 10 killers in the world and is the fifth leading cause of death in India.

“It results in about 6,20,000 premature deaths which are caused by stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic heart disease, lower respiratory infections and trachea, bronchus and lung cancer, among others,” the statement said, adding that the report highlights the heightened vulnerability of the poor and calls for stringent actions.

“The way forward would be to reduce the source of air pollution mainly revamping our transportation systems and forcing the industry to come up with cleaner technologies,” CSE DG Sunita Narain.

The report states that the potential period of spread of malaria has increased to 10-12 months (almost the whole year) which is up from 4 to 6 months.

In Kolkata, dengue transmission takes place for 44 weeks in a year. With a 2.4 degree Celsius rise in temperature, transmission may continue for 53 weeks, increasing the risk of more people getting affected, it said.