SmogRank / Episodes / India
Bihar and Odisha, India, March 2025
For 4 days, from 11 to 14 March 2025, 12 cities in India had PM2.5 at least twice their usual for the time of year. The worst reading was Dera Colliery Township, Odisha, India: 124.0 µg/m³ on 13 March, about 2.7× its usual 46.5.
No cause named We have no fire or smoke records for these days, so we only say what the measurements show.
Cities reached 12 in 1 country
Days 4 11 to 14 March 2025
Worst day 14 March 6 cities counted
Furthest above usual 4.5× Aurangābād
Day by day
Play 14 March 6 cities at twice their usual or more
Gaya Bihār Sharīf Āsansol Arrah Begusarai Barbil Hājīpur Joda Rānīganj Munger Chāpra Samāstipur Buxar Bhāgalpur Muzaffarpur Keonjhargarh Saharsa Baripāda Siwān Singrauli Mothīhāri Katihar Angul Byasanagar Bhelai Arāria Shrīrāmpur Kolkata Haldia Gorakhpur Cuttack Kishanganj Bilāspur Prayagraj Siliguri Satna Raipur Bhilai Durg Lucknow Varanasi Patna Belpahar Bettiah Rourkela Durgapur Purnia Rājgīr Dera Colliery Township Sasarām Rairangpur Aurangābād 8 Mar 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Every measured city in the area, coloured by its PM2.5 that day; a dark ring marks a city at twice its usual or more. Bars: cities counted each day, coloured by their median level. Choose a day or press play; without JavaScript, the days link to that day's world ranking.
How it spread
Sasarām Sasarām, 8 March: 90.2 µg/m³, 2.3× usual Sasarām, 9 March: 89.2 µg/m³, 2.2× usual Sasarām, 10 March: 121.0 µg/m³, 3.0× usual Sasarām, 11 March: 108.0 µg/m³, 2.7× usual Sasarām, 12 March: 74.6 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Sasarām, 13 March: 78.5 µg/m³, 2.0× usual Sasarām, 14 March: 74.0 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Sasarām, 15 March: 61.7 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Sasarām, 16 March: 66.2 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Sasarām, 17 March: 52.8 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Rājgīr Rājgīr, 8 March: 33.4 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Rājgīr, 9 March: 41.0 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Rājgīr, 10 March: 102.0 µg/m³, 3.1× usual Rājgīr, 11 March: 77.9 µg/m³, 2.3× usual Rājgīr, 12 March: no reading Rājgīr, 13 March: no reading Rājgīr, 14 March: no reading Rājgīr, 15 March: no reading Rājgīr, 16 March: 27.2 µg/m³, 0.8× usual Rājgīr, 17 March: 18.3 µg/m³, 0.5× usual Purnia Purnia, 8 March: no reading Purnia, 9 March: 106.0 µg/m³, 2.0× usual Purnia, 10 March: 103.0 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Purnia, 11 March: 119.0 µg/m³, 2.2× usual Purnia, 12 March: 95.7 µg/m³, 1.8× usual Purnia, 13 March: 66.9 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Purnia, 14 March: 67.1 µg/m³, 1.3× usual Purnia, 15 March: 101.0 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Purnia, 16 March: 88.7 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Purnia, 17 March: 38.9 µg/m³, 0.7× usual Aurangābād Aurangābād, 8 March: no reading Aurangābād, 9 March: no reading Aurangābād, 10 March: no reading Aurangābād, 11 March: 101.0 µg/m³, 4.5× usual Aurangābād, 12 March: 74.1 µg/m³, 3.3× usual Aurangābād, 13 March: 71.0 µg/m³, 3.2× usual Aurangābād, 14 March: 70.7 µg/m³, 3.2× usual Aurangābād, 15 March: 52.6 µg/m³, 2.4× usual Aurangābād, 16 March: 64.2 µg/m³, 2.9× usual Aurangābād, 17 March: 62.6 µg/m³, 2.8× usual Bettiah Bettiah, 8 March: no reading Bettiah, 9 March: no reading Bettiah, 10 March: no reading Bettiah, 11 March: 76.0 µg/m³, 2.1× usual Bettiah, 12 March: 74.7 µg/m³, 2.1× usual Bettiah, 13 March: 51.2 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Bettiah, 14 March: 66.1 µg/m³, 1.8× usual Bettiah, 15 March: 41.6 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Bettiah, 16 March: 52.1 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Bettiah, 17 March: 30.4 µg/m³, 0.8× usual Dera Colliery Towns… Dera Colliery Township, 8 March: 89.4 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Dera Colliery Township, 9 March: 46.2 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Dera Colliery Township, 10 March: 46.5 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Dera Colliery Township, 11 March: 78.2 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Dera Colliery Township, 12 March: 95.0 µg/m³, 2.0× usual Dera Colliery Township, 13 March: 124.0 µg/m³, 2.7× usual Dera Colliery Township, 14 March: 73.2 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Dera Colliery Township, 15 March: 53.1 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Dera Colliery Township, 16 March: 52.1 µg/m³, 1.1× usual Dera Colliery Township, 17 March: no reading Belpahar Belpahar, 8 March: 74.9 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Belpahar, 9 March: 63.9 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Belpahar, 10 March: 64.3 µg/m³, 1.5× usual Belpahar, 11 March: 63.2 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Belpahar, 12 March: 92.1 µg/m³, 2.1× usual Belpahar, 13 March: 84.8 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Belpahar, 14 March: 69.0 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Belpahar, 15 March: 60.7 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Belpahar, 16 March: 67.7 µg/m³, 1.5× usual Belpahar, 17 March: 54.4 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Durgapur Durgapur, 8 March: 76.3 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Durgapur, 9 March: 72.8 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Durgapur, 10 March: 71.1 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Durgapur, 11 March: 80.4 µg/m³, 1.8× usual Durgapur, 12 March: 87.9 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Durgapur, 13 March: 100.3 µg/m³, 2.2× usual Durgapur, 14 March: 99.7 µg/m³, 2.2× usual Durgapur, 15 March: 89.4 µg/m³, 2.0× usual Durgapur, 16 March: 77.8 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Durgapur, 17 March: 84.9 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Rairangpur Rairangpur, 8 March: 49.7 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Rairangpur, 9 March: no reading Rairangpur, 10 March: 47.0 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Rairangpur, 11 March: 66.8 µg/m³, 1.9× usual Rairangpur, 12 March: 63.0 µg/m³, 1.8× usual Rairangpur, 13 March: 76.5 µg/m³, 2.2× usual Rairangpur, 14 March: 114.0 µg/m³, 3.3× usual Rairangpur, 15 March: 95.2 µg/m³, 2.8× usual Rairangpur, 16 March: no reading Rairangpur, 17 March: no reading Patna Patna, 8 March: 89.7 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Patna, 9 March: 94.0 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Patna, 10 March: 92.6 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Patna, 11 March: 92.6 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Patna, 12 March: 82.5 µg/m³, 1.5× usual Patna, 13 March: 95.4 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Patna, 14 March: 122.0 µg/m³, 2.1× usual Patna, 15 March: 68.3 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Patna, 16 March: 66.7 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Patna, 17 March: 42.6 µg/m³, 0.8× usual Rourkela Rourkela, 8 March: 71.8 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Rourkela, 9 March: 87.2 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Rourkela, 10 March: 82.3 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Rourkela, 11 March: 83.5 µg/m³, 1.6× usual Rourkela, 12 March: 87.4 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Rourkela, 13 March: 102.5 µg/m³, 2.0× usual Rourkela, 14 March: 115.0 µg/m³, 2.2× usual Rourkela, 15 March: 90.6 µg/m³, 1.7× usual Rourkela, 16 March: 106.0 µg/m³, 2.0× usual Rourkela, 17 March: 70.7 µg/m³, 1.4× usual Varanasi Varanasi, 8 March: 11.8 µg/m³, 0.5× usual Varanasi, 9 March: 14.5 µg/m³, 0.6× usual Varanasi, 10 March: 11.3 µg/m³, 0.4× usual Varanasi, 11 March: 12.3 µg/m³, 0.5× usual Varanasi, 12 March: 9.6 µg/m³, 0.4× usual Varanasi, 13 March: 25.1 µg/m³, 1.0× usual Varanasi, 14 March: 52.0 µg/m³, 2.0× usual Varanasi, 15 March: 30.7 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Varanasi, 16 March: 31.2 µg/m³, 1.2× usual Varanasi, 17 March: 10.7 µg/m³, 0.4× usual 8 Mar 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Every counted city, in the order the episode reached them, 3 days before to 3 after. Each square is a day, coloured by that day's PM2.5; outlined: at twice the city's usual or more. Good 0–50
Moderate 51–100
Sensitive groups 101–150
Unhealthy 151–200
Very unhealthy 201–300
Hazardous 301+
Every city it reached
City Days Highest Usual Above usual
Aurangābād Bihar, India 4 11 March 22.2 4.5× Rairangpur Odisha, India 2 14 March 34.5 3.3× Rājgīr Bihar, India 1 10 March 33.3 3.1× Sasarām Bihar, India 1 10 March 39.7 3.0× Dera Colliery Township Odisha, India 2 13 March 46.5 2.7× Purnia Bihar, India 1 11 March 53.3 2.2× Rourkela Odisha, India 1 14 March 51.9 2.2× Durgapur West Bengal, India 2 13 March 45.3 2.2× Patna Bihar, India 1 14 March 56.8 2.1× Bettiah Bihar, India 2 11 March 36.0 2.1× Belpahar Odisha, India 1 12 March 44.3 2.1× Varanasi Uttar Pradesh, India 1 14 March 25.9 2.0×
Daily means in µg/m³. Usual: the city's median for this time of year (its days within 21 days of the date, every year, leaving out the week around it). Above usual: its highest day against that.
Against other episodes in India
Number 33 of 54 episodes in India since our records began, by cities reached.
North-western India, October 2025 170 North-western India, September 2026 57 North-western India, July 2026 51 North-western India, June 2025 47 North-eastern India, March and April 2025 45 North-western India, November 2025 27 North-western India, April 2026 26 North-western India, April and May 2025 26 North-western India and Pakistan, March 2026 25 North-western India, May 2025 23 North-eastern India, July 2026 22 North-eastern India, April 2025 20 Bihar and Odisha, India, March 2025 12 Bars: cities reached; colour: the level of the episode's highest daily reading. All 54 .
Use this page SmogRank, Bihar and Odisha, India, March 2025: 12 cities with PM2.5 at twice their usual or more, 11 to 14 March 2025, smogrank.com/episodes/2025-03-bihar-and-odisha-india (accessed 2 October 2026).
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You're welcome to reuse a single chart, image or figure with this citation and a link. Terms .
An episode is a run of days when many cities close to each other (four or more within 350 km on a day, 8 or more in all) each had a daily PM2.5 mean of at least 25 µg/m³ and at least 2 times their usual for that time of year. Found in our own measurements, not picked by hand. How we find episodes . Values are each city's daily mean of its own monitors; causes are the usual kinds for a pattern like this, not a confirmed source.
