National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched by the Ministry of Environment Forest &Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in January 2019 as a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy making determined efforts to deal with the air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner. The objective of the NCAP is comprehensive mitigation actions for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.  Measures taken by the government for air quality management are at Annexure I.

Under NCAP, it has been envisaged to achieve targets of 20 to 30 % reduction in Particulate Matter concentration by 2024 across the country. The NCAP is implemented in 132 cities in the country.

There has been an overall improvement in Particulate Matter10 (PM10) concentration in 95 cities including 20 cities conforming to the National Ambient Air Quality Standard in the year 2021-22 as compared to 2017. Details are provided at Annexure II.

NCAP covers Non-Attainment Cities (NACSs) wherein National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) is exceeded for 5 consecutive years. Under NCAP, 124 cities identified as NACs and 8 other million plus cities of Fifteenth Finance Commission- Million Plus Cities Challenge Fund are covered.

Under NCAP, the international organizations have been engaged to provide technical assistance. The details of cities in which international organisations are engaged for technical assistance under NCAP are provided at Annexure III.

Under NCAP, Apex Committee, Steering Committee, Monitoring Committee and Implementation Committee at Central level have been constituted for effective implementation of NCAP. Also Steering Committee and Implementation Committee at State level, and Implementation and Monitoring Committee at City level have been constituted for monitoring of action plans.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

 

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Annexure I

 

Measures taken by the Government for Air Quality Management

 

Vehicular Emission

• Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI fuel standards since 1st April, 2018 in NCT of Delhi and from 1st April, 2020 for the rest of the country.
• Introduction of BS VI compliant vehicles across the country since April, 2020.
• Development of Expressways and Highways to reduce fuel consumption and pollution.
• Eastern Peripheral Expressway & Western Peripheral Expressway have been operationalized to divert non destined traffic from Delhi.
• Environment Protection Charges (EPC) have been imposed on diesel vehicles with engine capacity of 2000cc and above in Delhi NCR.
• Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like CNG, LPG, ethanol blending in petrol.
• Promotion of public transport and improvements in roads and building of more bridges to ease congestion on roads.
• Network of metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
• Ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old vehicles in Delhi NCR.
• Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) -2 schemes has been rolled out.
• Permit requirement for electric vehicles has been exempted.
• Promotion of public transport and improvements in roads and building of more bridges to ease congestion on roads.

 

Industrial Emission

• Ban on use of pet coke and furnace oil in NCR, use of pet coke in processes in cement plants, lime kilns and calcium carbide manufacturing units.
• Stringent emission norms for Coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).
• Shifting of industrial units to PNG/cleaner fuel  in Delhi
• Installation of online continuous emission monitoring devices in highly polluting industries.
• Shifting of brick kilns in Delhi-NCR to zigzag technology for reduction of pollution

 

Air Pollution due to Dust and Burning of Waste

• Notifications of 6 waste management rules covering solid waste, plastic waste, e-waste, bio-medical waste, C&D waste and hazardous waste.
• Setting up infrastructure such as waste processing plants.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic and e-waste management.
• Ban on burning of biomass/garbage.

 

Monitoring of Ambient Air Quality

• Expansion of air quality monitoring network of manual as well as continuous monitoring stations under programmes such as National Air Monitoring Programme (NAMP).
• Initiation of pilot projects to assess alternate ambient monitoring technologies such as low-cost sensors and satellite-based monitoring.

 

Monitoring the Implementation of NCAP

• Government has launched NCAP as a national level as a national-level strategy outlining the actions for reducing the levels of air pollution at city and regional scales in India. City specific air action plans have been rolled out for implementation in 132 NACs and MPCs
• Rs. 472.06 crore have been sanctioned to 82 non-attainment cities under NCAP to provide support for critical gap funding. The funds are disbursed based upon the performance of the cities as per the NCAP operational guidelines.

• Further, 15th Finance Commission (XV-FC) has provided a special grant of Rs 4,400 crore to 42 million plus cities/urban agglomerations which covers 50 Non-Attainment Cities for FY 2020-21.
• The performance based incentive grant of Rs.12,139 crore for FY 2020-21 to 2025-26 have been allocated for improvement in air quality of 42 million plus cities/urban agglomerations under Million-Plus Cities Challenge Fund (MPCCF). MoEF&CC is the nodal agency for monitoring ambient air quality and recommending DoE for disbursing grants to 42 Million –plus cities.
• For FY 2021-22 for 42 MPCs, Rs2025 Cr have been released by DoE to 42 cities/UAs on the basis of their performance assessment made by MoEF&CC.
• City specific action plans are regularly monitored by committees at Central: Apex, Steering, Monitoring and implementation committee; at State: Steering, implementation committee and at City level Implementation and Monitoring Committee.
• Implementation of Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow. The system provides alerts for taking timely actions.
• Public Complaints regarding air pollution issues in Delhi NCR are taken through ‘Sameer App’, ‘Emails’ (Aircomplaints.cpcb[at]gov[dot]in) and ‘Social Media Networks’ (Facebook and Twitter).
• PRANA a portal for monitoring implementation of NCAP has been launched.

 

Annexure II

Particulate Matter10 (PM10) Concentration in 95 cities

 

States	Sl. No.	Cities	Annual Average concentration of PM10 (µg/m3), CY; Manual data; 132 cities (2017)	Average concentration of PM10 (µg/m3), FY; Integrated data; 132 cities (2021-2022)
Andhra Pradesh	1	Anantpur	78	52
Andhra Pradesh	2	Chittur	69	49
Andhra Pradesh	3	Eluru	74	65
Andhra Pradesh	4	Guntur	69	58
Andhra Pradesh	5	Kadapa	74	54
Andhra Pradesh	6	Kurnool	82	61
Andhra Pradesh	7	Nellore	65	55
Andhra Pradesh	8	Ongole	65	52
Andhra Pradesh	9	Rajamahendravaram	65	68
Andhra Pradesh	10	Srikakulam	70	75
Andhra Pradesh	11	Vijayawada	99	67
Andhra Pradesh	12	Visakhapatnam	73	98
Andhra Pradesh	13	Vizhianagaram	72	71
Assam	14	Guwahati	106	103
Assam	15	Nagaon	75	104
Assam	16	Nalbari	95	99
Assam	17	Silchar	49	45
Assam	18	Sivasagar	81	47
Bihar	19	Gaya	77	98
Bihar	20	Muzafarpur	167	153
Bihar	21	Patna	156	145
Chandigarh	22	Chandigarh	109	97
Chattisgarh	23	Durg Bhilainagar	97	58
Chattisgarh	24	Korba	58	61
Chattisgarh	25	Raipur	103	61
Delhi	26	Delhi	241	196
Gujarat	27	Ahmedabad	120	113
Gujarat	28	Rajkot	106	116
Gujarat	29	Surat	106	100
Gujarat	30	Vadodara	108	121
Haryana	31	Faridabad	-	209
Himachal Pradesh	32	Baddi	173	132
Himachal Pradesh	33	Damtal	62	64
Himachal Pradesh	34	Kala Amb	119	114
Himachal Pradesh	35	Nalagarh	147	84
Himachal Pradesh	36	Paonta Sahib	84	90
Himachal Pradesh	37	Parwanoo	65	35
Himachal Pradesh	38	Sunder Nagar	73	47
Jammu&Kashmir	39	Jammu	149	170
Jammu&Kashmir	40	Srinagar	-	105
Jharkhand	41	Dhanbad	238	235
Jharkhand	42	Jamshedpur	131	110
Jharkhand	43	Ranchi	142	110
Karnataka	44	Bengaluru	92	67
Karnataka	45	Devanagere	87	57
Karnataka	46	Gulburga / Kalaburgi	54	84
Karnataka	47	Hubli-Dharwad	79	69
Madhya Pradesh	48	Bhopal	93	116
Madhya Pradesh	49	Dewas	75	81
Madhya Pradesh	50	Gwalior	110	109
Madhya Pradesh	51	Indore	80	103
Madhya Pradesh	52	Jabalpur	74	115
Madhya Pradesh	53	Sagar	69	78
Madhya Pradesh	54	Ujjain	75	114
Maharashtra	55	Akola	127	64
Maharashtra	56	Amravati	106	66
Maharashtra	57	Aurangabad	83	85
Maharashtra	58	Badlapur	159	94
Maharashtra	59	Chandrapur	146	105
Maharashtra	60	Jalgaon	77	59
Maharashtra	61	Jalna	101	93
Maharashtra	62	Kolhapur	90	81
Maharashtra	63	Latur	81	57
Maharashtra	64	Mumbai	151	106
Maharashtra	65	Nagpur	102	68
Maharashtra	66	Nashik	81	59
Maharashtra	67	Navi Mumbai	105	97
Maharashtra	68	Pune	102	85
Maharashtra	69	Sangli	76	60
Maharashtra	70	Solapur	64	60
Maharashtra	71	Thane	125	130
Maharashtra	72	Ulhasnagar	149	77
Maharashtra	73	Vasai Virar	-	171
Meghalaya	74	Byrnihat	174	181
Nagaland	75	Dimapur	138	84
Nagaland	76	Kohima	114	69
Odisha	77	Angul	94	97
Odisha	78	Balasore	83	74
Odisha	79	Bhubneshwar	91	95
Odisha	80	Cuttack	86	90
Odisha	81	Kalinga Nagar	126	114
Odisha	82	Rourkela	117	106
Odisha	83	Talcher	96	81
Punjab	84	Amritsar	168	118
Punjab	85	Dera Baba Nanak	90	71
Punjab	86	DeraBassi	93	98
Punjab	87	Jalandhar	223	129
Punjab	88	Khanna	139	106
Punjab	89	Ludhiana	162	149
Punjab	90	MandiGobindgarh	136	123
Punjab	91	NayaNangal	90	70
Punjab	92	Patiala	101	109
Rajasthan	93	Alwar	134	111
Rajasthan	94	Jaipur	177	125
Rajasthan	95	Jodhpur	180	161
Rajasthan	96	Kota	130	112
Rajasthan	97	Udaipur	126	123
Tamil Nadu	98	Chennai	62	57
Tamil Nadu	99	Madurai	67	53
Tamil Nadu	100	Trichy	86	45
Tamil Nadu	101	Tuticorin	132	91
Telangana	102	Hyderabad	108	88
Telangana	103	Nalgonda	60	70
Telangana	104	Patencheru	78	76
Telangana	105	Sangareddy	79	83
Uttar Pradesh	106	Agra	185	146
Uttar Pradesh	107	Allahabad	140	119
Uttar Pradesh	108	Anpara	153	154
Uttar Pradesh	109	Bareily	195	175
Uttar Pradesh	110	Firozabad	221	137
Uttar Pradesh	111	Gajraula	206	155
Uttar Pradesh	112	Ghaziabad	280	217
Uttar Pradesh	113	Gorakpur	186	122
Uttar Pradesh	114	Jhansi	113	112
Uttar Pradesh	115	Kanpur	224	170
Uttar Pradesh	116	Khurja	208	173
Uttar Pradesh	117	Lucknow	246	148
Uttar Pradesh	118	Meerut	153	186
Uttar Pradesh	119	Moradabad	217	154
Uttar Pradesh	120	Noida	216	203
Uttar Pradesh	121	Raebareli	141	112
Uttar Pradesh	122	Varanasi	244	114
Uttarakhand	123	Dehradun	248	146
Uttarakhand	124	Kashipur	111	119
Uttarakhand	125	Rishikesh	128	117
West Bengal	126	Asansol	163	113
West Bengal	127	Barrackpore	90	85
West Bengal	128	Durgapur	154	168
West Bengal	129	Haldia	97	94
West Bengal	130	Howrah	110	125
West Bengal	131	Kolkata	119	105
West Bengal	132	Raniganj	163	132

 

Annexure III

The details of cities in which international organisations are engaged for technical assistance under NCAP

 

S. No.	State/UT	Cities
1	Maharashtra	Mumbai, Pune Nasik, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Badlapur
2	Bihar	Patna, Gaya, Muzzafarpur
3	Gujarat	Surat
4	Punjab	Amritsar
5	Uttar Pradesh	Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur
6	Madhya Pradesh	Indore
7	Delhi & NCR	Delhi, Gurugram
8	Karnataka	Bangalore

HS/PD/IG

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