The air quality index neared the “severe plus” mark, forcing authorities to invoke the most stringent set of anti-pollution emergency measures.
Credit: PTI
Bengaluru: As many as 1,787 of 4,041 Indian cities are polluted but only 130 cities are covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), a satellite-based study from Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said.
The NCAP, launched in January 2019, started with tackling bigger particle (PM10) pollution in 130 cities in the first phase and targeted reduction of smaller particles (PM 2.5) in the second phase by 2025-26. Rs 19,614 crore has been earmarked for the 130 cities and many of the states have utilised the funds.
Researchers from CREA looked into the satellite data to check the PM 2.5 pollution in 4041 cities. PM 2.5 particles are linked to serious lung diseases, including cancer. Details like aerosol optical depth, Nitrogen Oxide and Carbon Monoxide concentration, weather data and other auxiliary datasets in a two-step modelling approach revealed a worrying picture.
A whopping 1787 cities "consistently" breached the annual PM 2.5 levels set by National Ambient Air Quality Standards (40 microgram per cubic metre) in all the five years from 2019 to 2024. However, only 67 of these cities were covered under the NCAP. "This implies that about 44% of all Indian cities remain in a state of chronic PM 2.5 nonattainment, with no year showing compliance during this period," the study said.
Interestingly, the 130 cities under NCAP were selected based on the historical pollution data from 2011-2015. The 1787 polluted cities, most of them from north and central India, have not received any focus despite the serious health risk faced by their occupants.
CREA analyst Manoj Kumar said prioritising PM 2.5 and its precursor gases Nitrogen Dioxide and Sulfur Dioxide was necessary if India wants to tackle air pollution. "Revising the list of non-attainment cities under NCAP, setting stricter emission standards for industries and power plants, allocating funding based on source apportionment studies and adopting an airshed-based approach to address air pollution at a regional scale is the way forward," he said.