Nagpur: Air pollution in Nagpur has reached deeply alarming levels, with official data revealing that the city breathed polluted air almost throughout January, raising serious concerns over public health and administrative apathy. Readings from the GPO observation station, operated by the Maharashtra and Central Pollution Control Boards, show that 30 out of 31 days in January were polluted, underscoring a grim environmental reality for the city.
Of these, 25 days fell in the ‘moderate’ category, while nine days were classified as ‘poor’, signalling sustained exposure to unhealthy air. Even more worrying is the persistence of PM2.5, the most dangerous fine particulate matter, which remained above safe limits for 28 days, posing severe risks to lungs, heart and overall health.
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04 Feb 2026
Environmental expert Prof Suresh Chopane warned that the data clearly indicates Nagpur has now overtaken Chandrapur to emerge as Vidarbha’s most polluted city over the past five years, a disturbing shift for a city that was once considered relatively cleaner.
Pollution is no longer confined to a single pocket. While Mahal was earlier regarded as the city’s pollution hotspot, recent data shows that air quality deterioration has spread across Nagpur. In December, Mahal recorded polluted air on 30 of 31 days. In January, the situation worsened further, with five highly polluted days, 25 moderate days and only one satisfactory day. PM2.5 levels there breached safe limits on 30 days.
At Ram Nagar, pollution was recorded on all 31 days of January, including 26 moderate and five poor days, with PM2.5 remaining high for 28 days. Ambazari mirrored this trend, registering pollution on 30 days, including four poor days, and unsafe PM2.5 levels on 28 days. Alarmingly, not a single monitoring station recorded a ‘good’ AQI day (0–50) during the entire month.
Prof Chopane attributed the spike in pollution to a combination of winter inversion, sluggish wind movement, election-related activities, firecrackers, rising vehicular emissions, garbage and biomass burning, and industrial operations. He noted a sharp increase in PM2.5 pollution, pointing to vehicular emissions as a major contributor.
While no days fell under the ‘very poor’ or ‘severe’ AQI categories, experts cautioned that this offers little comfort, as prolonged exposure to moderate and poor air is already triggering a surge in health problems. Respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and tuberculosis, along with cardiac and mental health disorders, are reportedly on the rise, particularly during winter when pollutants remain trapped close to the ground.
Issuing a stark warning, Prof Chopane called for urgent, sustained and enforceable action, stressing that cosmetic solutions will not work. He urged authorities to expand green cover, aggressively promote public transport and cycling, accelerate the shift to electric vehicles, curb garbage burning, and strictly regulate industrial emissions and construction dust.
“Temporary measures like smog towers and fog machines may create an illusion of action, but they cannot solve a systemic problem,” he said, warning that without firm administrative will and long-term policy enforcement, Nagpur’s air will continue to deteriorate, at the cost of citizens’ health and lives.
