Bengaluru, London to lead 20-city group in fight against air pollution

Bengaluru and London will lead a global partnership of about 20 world cities on addressing rising pollution in urban areas, their mayors announced here on  Tuesday.  

Bengaluru Mayor R Sampath Raj met his London counterpart Sadiq Khan here and discussed the issues related to air quality in the Karnataka capital and the steps taken by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to tackle the hazard. Bengaluru is set to host the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group summit in 2018.  

C40 is a global network of cities committed to addressing climate change to improve the health of cities and is co-chaired by the mayors of Bengaluru and London.  

Six Indian cities - Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata and Mumbai - are members of the group, which is an alliance of more than 90 of the world's greatest cities committed to urgent action on climate change and air pollution.  

The network will allow leaders, from India and abroad, to share ideas, nurture innovation and drive ambition in the global efforts to improve the quality of air in cities.

"The civic administration is keeping a close eye on the quality of life in the city and air quality is one such indicator that directly impacts the health and well-being of our citizens," Raj said at the meeting.  "C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group has been working with and helping the BBMP for several years now towards sustainable urban development. We are extremely excited to co-lead C40's new Air Quality Network along with London."  

BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad  said scores of people were migrating to Bengaluru, leading to a rise in vehicles and air pollution.

Khan said: "I'm proud today to announce London and Bengaluru will be leading a new air quality partnership. We hope to work with key cities across the world and in India, including with our good friends here in Delhi."

BBMP ruling party leader Mohammed Rizwan Nawab and corporator Imran Pasha were also present at the meeting.  

B'luru's plan to check air pollution

* Air quality monitoring equipment installed in different parts of the city.  

* 45 km of new wider sidewalks on 50 major city centre roads.  

* TenderSURE is the first-of-its-kind project in India where utilities are shifted to the roadside to prevent digging of roads.

* Phase 1 of Namma Metro is operational.  

* Working on last-mile connectivity to all metro stations by implementing Station Access Plans.

* Converting the current fleet of 6,300 diesel buses to an all-electric fleet of close to 12,000 buses in the next 10 years.

* BMTC will shortly invite tenders for 150 electric buses.  

* Penalty imposed on those burning garbage.

* 50% of waste is segregated at source; 16 streams of waste identified.