New Delhi

Schoolgirls ride on a scooter on a foggy winter morning in New Delhi December 17, 2013.  [Photo/Agencies]

Air quality in New Delhi, a city undergoing breakneck economic development, is even worse than that of Chinese cities, such as Beijing, where the smog has reached danger level.

India is placed 155th among 178 countries on the global environment performance index 2014 and 174th in terms of air pollution. New Delhi is now overtaking Beijing as the most polluted city in the world,

From 2000-2011, PM10 levels in Delhi's air jumped by as much as 47 percent.

Moves by the city government including allowing new cars, subsidizing diesel and increasing compressed natural gas prices, have made the problem more serious. Most doctors in New Delhi say more people in the city are becoming ill from the toxic air.

Effort

New Delhi has done little to curb worsening air quality in recent years. However ,the city government introduced a set of reforms more than 10 years ago, which included moving industry beyond city limits, building a subway and switching public transport to cleaner-burning fuel.

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