Lok Sabha Question No. 1215 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-07-28
Subject: Particulate Matter in Air
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: BHARAT SINGH

OIH

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

**LOK SABHA**

**UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1215**

TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.07.2015

**Particulate Matter in the Air**

1215. SHRI BHARAT SINGH:

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

1. whether as per the study of Energy Policy Institute, Chicago, life span of a human being decreased by three years due to poor quality of air and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the guidelines of the WHO in respect of safe level of particulate matter in the air;

(c) the names of the States/regions which are not adhering to the standard fixed by the WHO; and

(d) the reaction of the Government thereto and the corrective measures being taken    by the Government to address this issue?

**ANSWER**

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST

(SHRI PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a & b) The air quality problem is prevailing in many cities across the World. Some world’s cities are non-compliant in respect of particulate matter while other cities are non-compliant for benzene, nitrogen oxides, ozone etc. The study published by Energy Policy Institute, Chicago, in February 2015 is based on estimates /extrapolation and not an actual data. There is no established methodology to directly correlate quality of air with life expectancy. The ambient air quality guidelines of WHO in respect of safe level of particulate matter is annexed at Annexure-I.

(c) The National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) was initiated in the year 1984. Under NAMP, three air pollutants viz., Sulphur Dioxide (SO 2 ), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2 ) and Particulate Matter of size equal to or less than 10 micron (PM 10 ), are being regularly monitored. The NAMP network presently comprises 593 operating monitoring stations located in 249 cities/towns in 28 states and 5 union territories across the country. PM 2.5 is being monitored at 82 locations covering 48 cities in 13 states. The analysis of PM 2.5 received from 30 cities for the year 2013 reveals that only 3 cities (Delhi, Cuttack and Tuticorin) exceeded the annual national standard of 40µg/m 3 .  Data for the year 2014 shows that 5 cities (Delhi, Tuticorin, Cuttack, Coimbatore and Mettur) exceeded the annual standards for PM 2.5 . However, on comparing with WHO guidelines for PM 2.5, only Salem in Tamil Nadu is within the limit.

(d) To minimize the impact of air pollution from the particulate matter, Government has inter-alia taken the following actions:

- Notification of National Ambient Air Quality Standards 2009, envisaging 12 pollutants;
- Formulation of regulations/statutes to address the rising levels of air pollution in the country;
- Setting up of monitoring network for assessment of ambient air quality;
- Execution of source apportionment studies in select cities and formulation of action plans for air quality in cities;
- Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuel like CNG, LPG etc. and promotion of public transport network including Metro;
- Creation of infrastructure for industrial pollution control incorporating cleaner production processes, setting up of common pollution control facilities;

The Government after realizing the gravity of pollution, following more concrete measures have been taken:

- Implementation of Bharat Stage IV norms in the 63 selected cities and Bharat Stage III norms in rest of the country;
- National Air Quality Index was launched by the Prime Minister in April, 2015 starting with 10 cities;
- Clean India Mission (swatch Bharat Abhiyan) has been launched;
- Banning of burning of leaves/ biomass
- Relevant draft rules, including those pertaining to construction and demolition waste, have been notified;
- Draft Rules for handling and management of  municipal waste; have been notified
- Regular co-ordination meetings are being held at official and ministerial level with Delhi and other State Governments within the National Capital Region (NCR) 6 th April, 13 th April and on 24 th July, 2015 to control air pollution in NCR adopting air-shed approach;
- Short-term plan has been reviewed and long-term plans have been formulated by states to mitigate pollution in NCR;
- Construction of Eastern and Western Expressways is given high priority for completion
- Stringent  industrial standards for have been formulated and notified for public/ stakeholders comments;
- Government is giving high priority for public partnership in lane discipline, car pooling, vehicle maintenance, pollution under control certification, idling of vehicles etc.
- Out of 2800 major industries, 920 industries have installed on-line continuous (24x7) monitoring devices; others are in process of installing.

.

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**ANNEXURE REFEERED TO IN REPLY TO PARAS (a) to (d) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1215 FOR 28.07.2015 REGARDING PARTICULATE MATTER IN THE AIR BY SHRI BHARAT SINGH**

**WHO Air quality guidelines for Particulate Matter (PM), Ozone (O** **3** **),    Nitrogen-dioxide (NO** **2** **) and Sulfur dioxide (SO** **2** **)-Global update 2005**

| **S. No**   | **Pollutant**                                                     | **Time weighted Average**   | **Concentration in Ambient Air**   |
|-------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------------|
| **1**       | Particulate Matter ( size less than  2.5µm) or PM  2.5  , µg/m  3 | Annual  24 hours            | 10  25                             |
| **2**       | Particulate Matter ( size less than 10 µm) or PM  10  , µg/m  3   | Annual  24 hours            | 20  50                             |
| **3**       | Ozone (O  3),  µg/m  3                                            | 8 hours                     | 100                                |
| 4           | Nitrogen Dioxide (NO  2  ), µg/m  3                               | Annual  1 hour              | 40  200                            |
| 5           | Sulphur Dioxide (SO  2  ), µg/m  3                                | 24 hours  10 min            | 20  500                            |

***