Walk around Nagpur on most days, and you may not notice anything unusual. The sky looks clear, traffic moves normally, and the city appears far better off than the big, polluted metros. However, numbers are telling a different story of the environment.
A recent analysis of air-quality data shared with iFOREST shows that Nagpur is carrying a steady load of pollution through the year, with sharp spikes in winter and late evenings. And even though the city has 11 monitoring stations, very little long-term data exists to understand how fast things are changing.
This information gap — more than anything else — is turning into the city’s biggest blind spot.
A city with too much dust and too little data
For a city of its size, Nagpur has a number of monitoring sites, however the majority have just been accurately recording data since 2023. The GPO Civil Lines station is the sole one that has a complete record from 2022 onwards.
Thus, the city cannot keep track of the air quality changes over the years.
The existing data is alarming too. The PM10 levels at the two stations, Ambazari and Mahal, were approximately 99 microgrammes per cubic metre in 2024. The national cap is sixty.. These are not small breaches; they show a city that is breathing much more dust and fine particles than it should.
PM2.5, the finer pollutant that enters the lungs easily, is also high across stations. Civil Lines, which has the cleanest readings, still sits above the safe mark.
Winter pushes pollution down to the ground
Anyone living in Nagpur knows the winter brings smoggy evenings and a heaviness in the air. The data supports that common experience.
Pollution levels in the winter season exceed the annual average by more than 50% for PM2.5 and by about 40% for PM10. A combination of cold air, light wind, and dust settling makes the city like a bowl and keeps the pollutants isolated at ground level.
This pattern is reversed by the rainy season. Heavy rain washes the air clean. PM levels drop by half during these months. This seasonal see-saw has been repeating every year, but Nagpur still does not have a clear long-term trend line to understand if winter peaks are getting worse.
Night-time pollution is the hidden problem
One of the more surprising findings is what happens after dark.
Around 9 PM, pollution levels start increasing and stay up to 1 AM. This behavior is observed for both PM2.5 and PM10.
Vehicle-related pollution, mainly NO₂, reaches its maximum earlier, during 6 PM to 8 PM, when there is heavy traffic.
The late-night rise suggests other sources are active:
• trucks entering the city after regular hours,
• small and scattered waste burning,
• low wind movement,
• and cooler temperatures trapping emissions.
This pattern rarely shows up in public discussions, largely because the city does not have strong, long-term hourly data to match these spikes with sources.
On paper, Nagpur has a plan. In practice, most of it is vague.
Nagpur has an action plan to tackle air pollution. But when experts examined how strong and practical the listed measures are, the results were not encouraging.
Only about 14% of the measures were “SMART” — meaning they had clear goals, timelines, responsibilities and measurability.
About 76% were weak, with no clear sense of who does what and by when.
This is the biggest reason why visible action has been slow. Plans exist, but they are not designed in a way that ensures follow-through.
For a city that now has over 35 lakh people, weak planning means weak implementation — and that shows up in the air residents breathe every day.
What this means for people in Nagpur
For residents in areas like Mahal, Ambazari, Ramnagar and parts of Civil Lines, pollution levels regularly cross the safe limit. Children and elderly people feel it the most — breathlessness, coughing, irritation in the eyes, and increased asthma attacks during winter.
Morning walks, school traffic, late-evening commutes — all of it plays out under air that looks harmless but carries high levels of fine particles.
The study does not say Nagpur is at the same level as Delhi or Kanpur. It isn’t. But it is moving slowly and steadily in the wrong direction. The rise is quiet, but steady enough to be noticed.
A chance to fix things before they get worse
The one advantage Nagpur still has is time. The city is not yet in crisis. Its pollution levels are high but not unmanageable. With the right steps — stronger monitoring, firmer timelines, and better coordination — Nagpur can change its trajectory.
But that window will not stay open forever. Without long-term data and a sharper action plan, the city risks being caught off guard.
Nagpur’s air problem is growing, and the city needs stronger information and clearer action to deal with it. The sooner this gap is fixed, the better chance Nagpur has to protect the air its people breathe.
environment
Nagpur
Pollution
sustainability
