Lok Sabha Question No. 2059 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-12
Subject: Air Quality in Cities
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Rodmal Nagar, S.R. Parthiban, Nama Nageswara Rao, Gopal Chinayya Shetty, Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 2059

TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.02.2021

## Air Quality in Cities

2059 SHRI RODMAL NAGAR:

SHRI PARTHIBAN S.R.:

SHRI NAMA NAGESWARA RAO:

SHRI GOPAL CHINNAYA SHETTY:

DR. T. SUMATHY (A) THAMIZHACHITHANGAPANDIAN:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a)     the details of pollution level in various major/ metropolitan cities of the country;
- (b)   the names of those metropolitan cities which are complying with fundamental guidelines to check the increase in air pollution;
- (c)    whether capital city Delhi is one of the most polluted cities despite all the efforts made to keep pollution under control, if so, the details thereof and the reasons for failure in controlling pollution level in the capital;
- (d)   whether the Government proposes to promote use of cycling among common people in view of its health benefits and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e)   the other steps taken by the Government to check pollution and improve air quality in various polluted cities in a time bound manner?

## ANSWER MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

(a) and (b) The details of pollution level during 2019 in 51 metropolitan cities having million plus population in India is given in Annexure-I.

Under NCAP, 122cities which are consistently exceeding the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are identified as non-attainment cities.

The Central Government launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a longterm,  time-bound,  national  level  strategy  to  tackle  the  air  pollution  problem  across  the country in a comprehensive manner with targets to achieve 20 % to 30 % reduction in PM10 and  PM2.5  concentrations  by  2024  keeping  2017  as  the  base  year  for  the  comparison  of concentration. and

City specific Action Plans have been prepared which is targeting the city specific air polluting  sources  (vehicular  emission,  road  dust,  biomass/crop/garbage/MSW  burning, construction activities, industrial emission and other city specific sources).

- (c) CPCB doesn't rank cities on the basis of pollution. However, it is observed that the Air Quality in Delhi has improved. The 'Good', 'Satisfactory' and 'Moderate' days increased to 182 in 2019 in comparison to 108 in 2016 whereas, number of 'Poor', 'Very Poor' and 'Severe' reduced from 246 in 2016 to 183 in 2019.
- (d) City  specific  action  plans  include  the  promotion  of  cycling  as  non-motorized transportin  31  non-attainment  cities  viz.  Bareilly,  Jhansi,  Lucknow,  Moradabad,  Noida, Prayagraj, Raebareli, Varanasi, Dhanbad, Angul, Balasor, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Talcher,  Pune,  Aurangabad,  Nashik,  Navi  Mumbai,  Amravati,  Kolhapur,  Nagpur,  Sangli, Mumbai,  Solapur,  Vishakhapatnam,  Guwahati,  Silchar,  Nalbari,  Nagaon,  Sivasagar.  Rs.  2 crore has been released to Pune specifically for setting up of bicycle tracks under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

Government of India has launched  India Cycles 4 Change Challenge as an initiative  under  Smart  Cities  Mission  to  inspire  and  support  Indian  cities  to  implement cycling-friendly  initiatives.107  cities  registered  for  the  Challenge  and  are  working  towards implementing  low-cost  interventions  like  pop-up  lanes,  traffic-calmed  streets,  community cycle rental schemes, and cycle-training programs.

- (e) Government  has  taken  several  steps  for  mitigation  of  air  pollution  such  as introduction  of  BS-VI,  expansion  of  Metro,  operationalization  of  Eastern  and  Western peripheral expressways, shifting of industries to PNG, waste processing plants, online round the  clock  monitoring  of  red  category  industries,  etc.  The  details  of  initiatives  taken  by government to combat air pollution is at Annexure -II .  Due to the concerted efforts of the Government the air quality in Delhi has observed an improvement.

While the Government is making strenuous efforts to mitigate air pollution, the citizens are requested to extend support for the following activities such as:

-  Renew your Pollution Under Control Certificate timely.
-  Avoid idling of engines.
-  Plan your errands to reduce travel time and trips.
-  Adopt clean modes of transport.
-  Prefer cycles/ e-bikes for short trips.
-  Adopt public transportation wherever feasible.
-  Avoid Congested routes.Segregate household waste
-  Never burn waste
-  Take recyclable waste to collection centres & earn from waste too
-  Compost leaves and garden waste
-  Avoid vigorous sweeping of leaves in gardens/ parks - use wide rakes
-  Dispose e-waste responsibly.
-  Adopt green good deeds and encourage others too.
-  Use public grievance redressal apps to inform air polluting activities to authorities
-  Share about ongoing clean initiatives with others

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Annexure I DETAILS OF POLLUTION LEVEL DURING 2019 IN 51 METROPOLITAN CITIES HAVING MILLION PLUS POPULATION

| State          |   S. No. | City               |   PM 10 inµg/m 3 (2019) |
|----------------|----------|--------------------|-------------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh |        1 | Vijayawada         |                      73 |
| Andhra Pradesh |        2 | Vishakhapatnam     |                      76 |
| Bihar          |        3 | Patna              |                     237 |
| Chandigarh     |        4 | Chandigarh         |                      97 |
| Chhattisgarh   |        5 | Durg-Bhillainagar  |                      79 |
| Chhattisgarh   |        6 | Raipur             |                      69 |
| Delhi          |        7 | Delhi              |                     218 |
| Gujarat        |        8 | Ahmedabad          |                     135 |
| Gujarat        |        9 | Rajkot             |                     127 |
| Gujarat        |       10 | Surat              |                     128 |
| Gujarat        |       11 | Vadodara           |                     131 |
| Haryana        |       12 | Faridabad          |                     132 |
| Jharkhand      |       13 | Dhanbad            |                     237 |
| Jharkhand      |       14 | Jamshedpur         |                     138 |
| Jharkhand      |       15 | Ranchi             |                     109 |
| Karnataka      |       16 | Bangalore          |                      74 |
| Kerala         |       17 | Kochi              |                      46 |
| Kerala         |       18 | Kollam             |                      45 |
| Kerala         |       19 | Kozhikode          |                      44 |
| Kerala         |       20 | Malapuram          |                      35 |
| Kerala         |       21 | Thiruvananthapuram |                      42 |
| Kerala         |       22 | Thissur            |                      38 |
| Madhya Pradesh |       23 | Bhopal             |                     161 |
| Madhya Pradesh |       24 | Gwalior            |                     139 |
| Madhya Pradesh |       25 | Indore             |                      77 |
| Madhya Pradesh |       26 | Jabalpur           |                      84 |
| Maharashtra    |       27 | Aurangabad         |                      74 |
| Maharashtra    |       28 | Mumbai             |                     125 |
| Maharashtra    |       29 | Nagpur             |                     101 |
| Maharashtra    |       30 | Nashik             |                      63 |
| Maharashtra    |       31 | Pune               |                     143 |
| Maharashtra    |       32 | Thane              |                     128 |
| Punjab         |       33 | Amritsar           |                     170 |
| Punjab         |       34 | Ludhiana           |                     153 |
| Rajasthan      |       35 | Jaipur             |                     141 |
| Rajasthan      |       36 | Jodhpur            |                     240 |
| Rajasthan      |       37 | Kota               |                     129 |

| Tamilnadu     |   38. | Chennai    |   73 |
|---------------|-------|------------|------|
|               |    39 | Coimbatore |   57 |
|               |    40 | Madurai    |   79 |
|               |    41 | Trichy     |   73 |
| Telangana     |    42 | Hyderabad  |   99 |
| Uttar Pradesh |    43 | Agra       |  186 |
|               |    44 | Allahabad  |  222 |
|               |    45 | Ghaziabad  |  208 |
|               |    46 | Kanpur     |  198 |
|               |    47 | Lucknow    |  208 |
|               |    48 | Meerut     |  213 |
|               |    49 | Varanasi   |  184 |
| West Bengal   |    50 | Asansol    |  184 |
|               |    51 | Kolkata    |  104 |

## Annexure-II CENTRAL GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES TO COMBAT AIR POLLUTION

Based  on  air  quality  data,  122  non-attainment  cities  (NACs)  have  been  identified  under NCAP  and  City  Specific  Clean  Air  Action  Plans  have  been  prepared  and  approved  for 111NACs. The other measures taken by the Government includes:

## i. Vehicular Pollution Control

-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI norms for fuel and vehicles since April, 2020.
-  Network of Metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
-  Development of Expressway  and  Highways  are  also  reducing  the  fuel  consumption and pollution.
-  Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like CNG, LPG, ethanol blending in petrol.
-  Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) -2 scheme 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.

## ii. Industrial Pollution Control

-  Stringent emission norms for Coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).
-  Pet coke and furnace oil have been banned as fuel in Delhi and NCR States.
-  Industrial units shifting to PNG.
-  Installation of on-line continuous monitoring devices in highly polluting industries.
-  Shifting of Brick kilns to zig-zag technology for reduction of pollution

## iii. Waste Management

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

## iv. Crop Residue Management

-  Under Central Sector Scheme on 'Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for in-situ management  of  Crop  Residue  in  the  States  of  Punjab,  Haryana,  Uttar  Pradesh  and NCT  of  Delhi',  agricultural machines  and  equipment  for  in-situ crop residue management  are  promoted  with  50%  subsidy  to  the  individual  farmers  and  80% subsidy for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres.

## i. Monitoring of Air Quality

-  Expansion  of  air  quality  monitoring  network  under  National  Air  Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP)
-  Implementation of Air Quality Early Warning System for Delhi. The system provides alerts for taking timely actions.

## v. Allocation of funds

-  ₹ 336.8 crores have been sanctioned to non-attainment cities under NCAP for initiating actions such as expansion of monitoring network, construction and demolition waste management facilities, non-motorised transport infrastructure,  green  buffers,  mechanical  street  sweepers,  composting  units etc.
-  ₹2200 crores have been released in the Budget of FY 2020-21 to tackle the burgeoning problem of air pollution. Further, an amount of 2,217 crores has been  allocated  for  42  urban  centres  with  a  million-plus  population  in  this budget for improvement of air quality.
-  Rs. 7365.82 Crores was allocated for Solid Waste Management under Urban Swachh Bharat Mission from 2014-2019.
-  Under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme Rs. 1436 Crore have been allocated for non-motorised urban transport and Rs. 1768 Crores for green spaces and parks for five years from FY201516 to FY2019-20.
-  A provision of 1,41,678 crores over a period of 5 years from 2021-2026 has been  made  for  Urban  Swachh  Bharat  Mission  2.0  with  a  focus  on  air pollution  reduction  by  effectively  managing  waste  from  construction-anddemolition activities and bio-remediation of all legacy dump sites.
-  ₹  1726.67  crores  have  been  released  for  crop  residue  management  in  the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi, during the year 2018-21.

## vi. Public Participation

-  This  Ministry  has  an  ongoing  Environment  Education,  Awareness  and among  all  sections  of  the  society,  especially  school  and  college  level students and to mobilize people's participation for conservation of environment.
-  The  Green  Good  Deeds  (GGDs),  a  social  movement,  is  one  of  the components  of  the  scheme  aimed  to  inculcate  green  good  habits  and behaviour among all sections of the society to take green social responsibility such as minimizing the use of single-use plastic, celebrating Green Diwali, use of public transport, avoid personal car and promoting car pool,  regular  check-ups  to  get  Pollution  Control  Certificate (PUC),  save electricity, save water, avoid congested lanes etc. The detailed suggestive list of good deeds is available at http://164.100.160.232/sbhb/GoodDeeds.aspx

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