India, Dec. 20 -- There is no conclusive data to establish a direct correlation between higher Air Quality Index (AQI) levels and lung diseases, the government has told Parliament.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Union Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh on Thursday, however, acknowledged that air pollution is one of the triggering factors for respiratory ailments and associated diseases.

Singh was responding to a question by BJP MP Laxmikant Bajpayee, who asked whether the government was aware that studies and medical tests have confirmed that prolonged exposure to hazardous AQI levels in Delhi-NCR is leading to lung fibrosis, an irreversible reduction in lung capacity.

Bajpayee also sought to know...