New Delhi: Surat has emerged as India’s leading city for air quality growth, followed by Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Agra (Uttar Pradesh).
The government’s recognition of these three cities, each with a population of more than one million, with the Swachh Vayu Survekshan (clean air survey) Awards for clean air, is a testament to their dedication and should inspire and motivate others to follow suit.
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, who have been instrumental in the implementation of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), handed the prizes to the best-performing cities.
Firozabad (Uttar Pradesh), Amravati (Maharashtra), and Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) were named the top three cities with populations between 300,000 and 1 million, respectively, while Raebareli (Uttar Pradesh), Nalgonda (Telangana), and Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh) were named the top three cities with populations less than 300,000.
Municipal commissioners from winning communities received significant monetary rewards, prestigious trophies, and certificates of recognition for their outstanding contribution to improving air quality in their respective cities.
According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC), 51 cities have reduced PM10 levels by more than 20% compared to the baseline year 2017-18, with 21 of these cities attaining reductions of more than 40%.
The NCAP assessment document gives weightage to sectors such as biomass and municipal solid waste burning, road dust, dust from building and demolition waste, automotive emissions, and industrial emissions.
What is 3rd Party Services Meta is Promising in WhatsApp, Messenger to EU Users?
Experts have previously stated that NCAP does not focus on combustion sources and may not successfully reduce harmful emissions.
According to a July review by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), road dust reduction has been the primary focus of NCAP, which was started in 2019 as the first initiative to set clean air targets for 131 polluting cities and reduce particulate pollution nationwide.
The review found that 64% of the total funds (Rs 10,566 crore) have been allocated to road paving, widening, pothole repair, water sprinkling, and motorised sweepers. Only 14.51% of money has been used to regulate biomass burning, 12.63% to reduce vehicle pollution, and 0.61% to decrease industrial pollution.
“The primary focus of the funding is thus road dust mitigation,” the evaluation stated.
NCAP seeks to reduce particle pollution by up to 40% by 2025-26, starting with the base year 2019-20. It is India’s first performance-based funding project for improving air quality.
Originally, NCAP was intended to address both PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in 131 non-attainment cities. In practice, only PM10 concentrations have been used to assess performance. According to CSE studies, PM2.5, the more hazardous portion produced primarily by combustion sources, has been overlooked.
For more updates Subscribe to Media Eye News
–IANS
