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Hazed and confused: NCR cities top country’s most polluted list
Hindustan Times Delhi
|October 17, 2025
An all-too-familiar haze has returned to the National Capital Region (NCR) on Thursday, cloaking Delhi and its suburbs in a blanket of pollution even before Diwali’s firecracker emissions compound the crisis.
Data from the Central Pollution Control Board's Thursday bulletin delivered a stark reality check: the top eight most polluted cities in India were all in the NCR, painting a grim picture of what lies ahead as temperatures drop and meteorological conditions turn unfavourable in coming weeks.
Ghaziabad gained the notorious distinction of being India’s most polluted town on Thursday, topped the list with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 307 - categorised as “very poor.” Ballabhgarh, near Faridabad, followed with 296, Noida with 288, Bhiwadi at 277, and Greater Noida with 272. Gurugram recorded 260, while Delhi was seventh with an AQI of 245 — its worst reading of the season so far.
This story is from the October 17, 2025 edition of Hindustan Times Delhi.
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