India, Sept. 2 -- Bengaluru's once-celebrated image as the "Garden City" is fast being overshadowed by a darker reality: toxic air that is silently cutting short the lives of its residents.

Fresh data from the University of Chicago's Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) shows that air pollution now reduces the life expectancy of every Bengalurean by more than two years, a sharp rise from just eight months in the late 1990s, Deccan Herald reported.

Over the last 25 years, particulate matter (PM-2.5) levels have doubled across all districts of Karnataka, including Bengaluru. Though pollution levels in the state remain lower than the smog-heavy northern plains, the health burden is rising steadily.

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