According to a new survey, a majority of the residents in the national capital, Delhi believe that the overall environment has deteriorated during the previous five years.

The survey was conducted by the Energy and Resources Institute and covered a total of six major cities across the country.  It showed that about 80per cent of the respondents in Delhi said that the city's environment has deteriorated during the past five years.

The survey also found that the respondents in Delhi were largely not aware about the government policies for improving environment.  Teri interviewed 1,114 respondents in Delhi NCR for the survey.  About 40 per cent of the respondents in Delhi said air quality has deteriorated while 39 per cent believe air quality has improved over the previous few years.

Dr R K Pachauri, director general, Teri said: "Our purpose is to see that issues related to environment and development get embedded in the consciousness of the people, and of course, if we carry out an assessment of people's attitude and how they view these issues then clearly we are also creating awareness on the major changes that are required to ensure we move on the path of sustainable development."