Lok Sabha Question No. 3724 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-16
Subject: Source Identification Studies for  Air Pollution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Shri Azad Kirti Jha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3724 TO BE ANSWERED ON 16.03.2026

## Source Identification Studies for Air Pollution

## 3724. SHRI AZAD KIRTI JHA

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

(a)  whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  source  identification  and  apportionment exercise for categorizing causes of air pollution with their relative contribution in Delhi-NCR and the country, as per recent Supreme Court guidelines, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(b) the reasons for not conducting such exercise earlier and whether meaningful solutions could be achieved without understanding the sources of pollution;

(c) whether the Government has devised any long-term sectoral plans to reduce their pollution intensity, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor:

(d) the details of total positions sanctioned, occupied and vacant in Central and State Pollution Control Bodies, State/UT-wise;

(e) whether the Government is aware of the number of posts (including technical and nontechnical posts) in the Delhi Pollution Control Committee lying vacant, if so, details thereof, along with the reasons therefor; and

(f) the details of measures taken/being taken to ensure optimal performance by pollution control bodies, including their staff strength?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) and (b): To identify various factors contributing to air pollution and prioritise the air quality improvement  measures  under  city  action  plans  under  NCAP,  Source Apportionment  (SA) studies  have  been  carried  out  in  90  cities  under  National  Clean  Air  Programme  (NCAP) including Delhi.

Based on the Source apportionment studies conducted across various cities, it was observed that major contributors to PM₁₀ concentrations include road dust and construction activities (14-58%),  vehicular  emissions  (10-33%),  industrial  sources  (8-34%),  and  waste/biomass burning (8-29%).

A  Source  Apportionment  study  for  Delhi  has  been  conducted  in  2018  titled 'Source Apportionment of PM2.5 & PM10 of Delhi NCR for identification of Major Sources'.

Further, Hon'ble Supreme court vide its order dated 06.01.2026 in the Writ Petition (C) No. 13029/1985 directed Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) to identify major causes of Air pollution in Delhi-NCR.

In pursuance to the Hon'ble Supreme Court's directions, CAQM has published a report of the Air Quality Experts on 'Identification of the causes for worsening AQI in Delhi-NCR'.

Further,  recognizing  variations  in  earlier  studies  and  the  need  for  a  unified,  data-driven approach  for  developing effective  air  quality  management  in  Delhi  NCR,  the  Commission constituted a Steering Committee under the Chairmanship of a full-time Technical Member of the  Commission,  comprising  Members  from  NEERI,  CPCB,  HSPCB,  RSPCB,  UPPCB, DPCC, IIT Kanpur, IITM Pune, UNEP Delhi, ARAI Pune, IIT Delhi and TERI. Based on the deliberations, CAQM  developed a Framework for Emission Inventory and Source Apportionment  for  Delhi-NCR  in  April,  2025,  which  outlines  high-resolution  emission mapping  (500  m  x  500  m  grid)  across  major  polluting  sectors  like  transport,  industry, households, crop residue burning, road dust, and waste burning as outlined in this report. The Commission entrusted CPCB with the task to implement the framework, and a consortium of four institutes led by ARAI, Pune and partners from IIT Delhi, TERI and IITM Pune has been awarded with the work of developing a new emission inventory and source apportionment study for Delhi NCR.

(c): Government has launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 as a national strategy to address air pollution across 130 non-attainment and million-plus population cities across the country.  Under NCAP, 24 States/UTS and 130 cities have prepared State Action Plans and City specific Clean Air Action Plans, respectively to improve air quality. These plans have incorporated  the long-term and short-term  sectoral  actions  along  with the  responsible agencies to target the specific air polluting sources like Soil & Road Dust, Vehicles, Domestic Fuel, MSW Burning, Construction Material and Industries, etc.

Under NCAP and 15th Financial Commission (XVFC) air quality grants, performance based incentive grant of Rs. 13,865.52 crore has been provided as a critical gap funding to 130 cities for implementing activities to control air pollution.

To monitor the implementation of NCAP in 130 cities, various Committees have been set up at National, State and City level for coordination, monitoring and evaluation of progress on action plans by various stakeholder agencies/Departments/Ministries.

Further, to address air pollution in Delhi-NCR, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh, Govt. of Haryana, Govt. of Rajasthan and Govt. of Punjab have prepared short term and long term activities to be undertaken to address various sources of air pollution.

Various  other  measures  taken  by  the  Government  to  control  air  pollution  are  enclosed  at Annexure-I .

(d) to (f): State-wise details of positions sanctioned, occupied and vacant in Central and State Pollution  Control  Boards  (SPCB)/Pollution  Control  Committees  (PCC)  including  Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) are enclosed at Annexure-II .

Vacancies in SPCB/PCC are filled by the concerned State Govt./UT administration through direct recruitment, deputation and promotion, in accordance with the applicable recruitment rules for the respective positions. Ministry has requested the State Govt./UT administrations to fill up the vacant posts in SPCB/PCCs.

MoEF&CC notified amendments to the Uniform Consent Guidelines on 27th January, 2026 vide G.S.R.62(E): The Control of Air Pollution (Grant, Refusal or Cancellation of Consent) Amendment  Guidelines,  2026  and  G.S.R.63(E):  The  Control  of  Water  Pollution  (Grant, Refusal or Cancellation of Consent) Amendment Guidelines, 2026, to streamline the consent mechanism  implemented  across  all  States  and  Union  territories.  Under  these  guidelines, Registered  Environment  Auditors  are  allowed  to  conduct  site  visits  and  verification  of particulars furnished by the industries for processing of applications for grant of Consent, in addition to the inspections conducted by officers of State Pollution Control Boards/ Pollution Control Committees (PCC).

To implement Uniform Consent guidelines, Unified Consent and Authorisation Management System (UCAMS), an online portal has been developed to facilitate all SPCBs/PCCs across the country to process applications for grant of 'Consent to Establish' and 'Consent to Operate' issued  for  establishing  and  operating  industries.  The  online  unified  portal  not  only  creates transparency in granting the Consent, it reduces the burden of filling and processing multiple applications and permissions.

***

## Measures taken to control Air Pollution

## 1.0 Measures for control of vehicular emissions:

-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI fuel standards since 1 st  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.
-  Installation of Vapour Recovery System (VRS) in new and existing petrol pumps selling gasoline >100kl per month in million plus cities and those selling >300kl per month in cities  with  population  between  1  lakh  to  1  million  to  control  vehicular  refuelling emissions.
-  Promotion  of  electric  vehicles  through  Electric  Mobility  Promotion  Scheme  2024 (EMPS 2024) scheme of Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India
-  Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) has been launched as an initiative to set up Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) production plants and make CBG available in the market for use in automotive fuels.
-  Establishment  of  charging  infrastructure  for  E-vehicles  as  per  guidelines  issued  by Ministry of Power.
-  Synchronization in traffic movements/Introduction of Intelligent Traffic System (ITS) for lane-driving.
-  Ministry  of  Road Transport  &  Highways  (MoRTH)  has  issued  notifications  on  the establishment  of  Registered  Vehicle  Scrapping  Facility  (RVSFs)  and  Automated Testing System (ATS) to create an enabling framework for implementation of Vehicle Scrapping Policy.
-  Improving and Strengthening of Pollution  Under Control  (PUC) Certificate  System programme across the country by MoRTH.

## 2.0 Measures for control of industrial emission:

-  For  strengthening  monitoring  mechanism  and  effective  compliance  through  selfregulatory mechanism, CPCB directed all 17 categories of highly polluting industries to install OCEMS. There are 4,322 units under 17 categories of industries, out of which 3,744 units have installed OCEMS and closure directions are still in-force for 578 units.
-  Direction issued on 09.10.2025 to SPCBs/ PCCs of Delhi NCR for ensuring OCEMS and PTZ installation in Textile, food processing and metal industries and connectivity to CPCB server.
-  CPCB vide direction dated 12.02.2025 classified a total of 419 sectors and sub-sectors in Red (125), Orange (137), Green (94), White (54) and Blue (9).
-  The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India notifies industry specific discharge standards under Schedule-I: 'Standards for Emission  or  Discharge  of  Environmental  Pollutants  from  various  Industries'  of Environment Protection Act, 1986. So far, industry specific environmental standards, for  79  industrial  sectors  (including  emission  standards  for  56  sectors)  have  been notified.  Industrial  sectors,  for  which  specific  standards  are  not  available,  general standards as notified under Schedule-VI of Environment Protection Rules, 1986 shall be applicable.
-  Ban on use of imported pet coke in the country since July 26, 2018, with exception for use in permitted processes.
-  CPCB has come out with System and Procedure for Emission Compliance Testing of Retro-fit Emission Control Devices (RECD) for Diesel Power Generating Set Engines up to Gross Mechanical Power 800 kW.
-  In 2022, CPCB mandated new brick kilns must use zig-zag technology, vertical shaft, or piped natural gas, and adhere to specific standards. Also, Existing kilns must also convert to these technologies or use approved fuels.
-  In 2023, CPCB introduced stricter emission standards (CPCB IV+) for diesel generators (DG sets) up to 800 kW, mandating dual-fuel systems (70% gas, 30% diesel) where gas infrastructure is available and requiring Retro-fit Emission Control Devices (RECD) with a minimum PM capturing efficiency of 70%.

## 3.0 Air Quality Monitoring and Network

-  National  Air  Quality  Index  (AQI)  was  launched  in  2015.  Information  is  being disseminated to public through daily air quality bulletins.
-  Ambient Air Quality Network: The country has a network of 1597 ambient air quality monitoring stations (562 continuous and 1035 manual) covering 583 cities in 28 states and 7 UTs.
-  A centralized  air  quality monitoring  portal is  operated  by Central  Pollution  Control Board wherein, tracking of various information such as hourly PM concentrations, Live Air Quality Data of Monitoring stations and Live Air Quality Index is being carried out.
-  Daily AQI Bulletin is published on CPCB website giving AQI information for cities across India.

## 4.0 C&D Waste & MSW

-  CPCB published following guidelines (available on website of CPCB)
1. Environmental Management of Construction & Demolition (C & D) Wastes' in March, 2017
2. 'Guidelines on DUST Mitigation Measures in Handling Construction Material & C&D Wastes' in November 2017.
3. Disposal of legacy waste by bio-mining and bio-remediation to address open burning and landfill fires
-  CPCB has issued direction to all SPCBs/ PCCs for deployment of Anti-Smog Gun and implementation  of  adequate  dust  mitigation  measures  at  construction  projects/  sites having area more than 20,000 sq. meters. CPCB has issued guidelines/ mechanism for use of anti-smog guns in Construction and Demolition projects.
-  CPCB issued  directions  to  all  SPCBs/PCCs  for  enforcement  of  provision  of  SWM Rules-2016 regarding bio-mining of legacy waste during Jan-2021.
-  CPCB issued directions to all SPCBs/PCCs for implementation of SWM Rules-2016 regarding fire incidents at MSW dumpsites during May 2022.

## 5.0 Regular Stakeholder Consultation, Public & Media Outreach

-  CPCB has developed a mobile app i.e. SAMEER, where Real-time Ambient air quality data of various parameters including AQI is also given. Sameer app also facilitates the public in lodging of air pollution related complaints in NCR region and such complaints are assigned to various local agencies.
-  Dedicated media corner, Twitter and Facebook  accounts have  also been  created for public outreach.
-  Complaint redressal on SAMEER app and social media platforms is monitored and redressal status is shared with respective agencies.
-  Daily AQI status is shared on social media platforms. Various campaigns as well as informative  posts  related  to  air  pollution,  firecrackers,  vehicular  pollution,  stubble burning, sustainable lifestyle, etc. are also posted regularly on social media platforms.
-  CPCB issues a daily report comprising of AQI of Delhi and NCR towns, comparative AQI status, year-wise trends of PM concentration, hotspots for the day, AFE counts,

contribution of stubble burning and meteorological forecast. This report is prepared based on the inputs available from various sources such as IMD, SAFAR, IARI, etc., and disseminated through CPCB website.

State-wise  details  of  positions  sanctioned,  occupied  and  vacant  in  Central  and  State Pollution  Control  Boards/Pollution  Control  Committees  including  Delhi  Pollution Control Committee (as on 30.11.2025)

|   S. No | Name of the CPCB/SPCBs            |   Sanctioned posts |   Filled Posts |   Vacancies |
|---------|-----------------------------------|--------------------|----------------|-------------|
|       1 | Central Pollution Control Board # |                669 |            466 |         203 |
|       2 | Andhra Pradesh                    |                293 |            117 |         176 |
|       3 | Arunachal Pradesh                 |                 27 |             27 |           0 |
|       4 | Assam #                           |                264 |            215 |          49 |
|       5 | Bihar                             |                 72 |              5 |          67 |
|       6 | Chhattisgarh                      |                328 |            119 |         209 |
|       7 | Goa                               |                159 |            130 |          29 |
|       8 | Gujarat                           |                794 |            289 |         505 |
|       9 | Haryana                           |                448 |            289 |         159 |
|      10 | Himachal Pradesh                  |                375 |            241 |         134 |
|      11 | Jharkhand                         |                271 |             24 |         247 |
|      12 | Karnataka                         |                723 |            255 |         468 |
|      13 | Kerala                            |                425 |            372 |          53 |
|      14 | Madhya Pradesh                    |               1220 |            406 |         814 |
|      15 | Maharashtra                       |               1310 |            450 |         860 |
|      16 | Manipur                           |                119 |             40 |          79 |
|      17 | Meghalaya #                       |                155 |             99 |          56 |
|      18 | Mizoram                           |                 24 |             18 |           6 |
|      19 | Nagaland                          |                 17 |             17 |           0 |
|      20 | Odisha #                          |                463 |            175 |         288 |
|      21 | Punjab                            |                652 |            572 |          80 |
|      22 | Rajasthan                         |                822 |            555 |         267 |
|      23 | Sikkim                            |                 11 |             09 |          02 |
|      24 | Tamil Nadu                        |               1017 |            558 |         459 |
|      25 | Telangana                         |                230 |            115 |         115 |
|      26 | Tripura                           |                 29 |             20 |           9 |
|      27 | Uttarakhand                       |                103 |             23 |          80 |
|      28 | Uttar Pradesh                     |                732 |            372 |         360 |
|      29 | West Bengal                       |                309 |            171 |         138 |
|      30 | Andaman and Nicobar               |                  5 |              5 |           0 |
|      31 | Chandigarh                        |                  8 |              7 |           1 |
|      32 | Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu |                  2 |              2 |           0 |
|      33 | Delhi                             |                344 |            282 |          62 |
|      34 | Jammu & Kashmir                   |                445 |            258 |         187 |
|      35 | Ladakh                            |                  2 |              2 |           0 |
|      36 | Lakshadweep                       |                  5 |              5 |           0 |
|      37 | Puducherry                        |                 10 |              7 |           3 |