As per Government data, more than 80 % of NCAP cities continue to exceed prescribed National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) limits.
- Cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Surat, Ahmedabad, Pune and Guwahati have exceeded NAAQS continuously since 2023.
About National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
- Launch: Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched NCAP in 2019 as a national strategy to improve air quality.
- Coverage: Covers 130 (122 non-attainment and 8 million-plus) cities across 24 States/UTs.
- Strategy: City-specific Clean Air Action Plans, performance-linked funding, inter-ministerial convergence, and a Jan Andolan approach.
- Target: Achieve up to 40% reduction in Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5) concentration or meet NAAQS by 2025-26.
- NAAQS, notified by CPCB in 2009, prescribe permissible ambient concentrations for pollutants.
- It covers 12 pollutants including PM10 and PM2.5.
- Annual limits are 60 µg/m³ for PM10 and 40 µg/m³ for PM2.5.
- NAAQS, notified by CPCB in 2009, prescribe permissible ambient concentrations for pollutants.
- PRANA (Portal for Regulation of Air-pollution in NAC) has been also launched monitor the implementation of NCAP.
Other Initiatives taken to tackle Air Pollution in Cities
- Scheme Convergence: Integrating SBM-U, AMRUT, PM e-Bus Sewa, PM E-DRIVE and Nagar Van Yojana.
- Emergency Measures: E.g., GRAP in Delhi-NCR and Emergency Response Systems for localised hotspots.
- Technology: PRANA portal, BS-VI norms and sensor-enabled Smart Poles support monitoring and pollution control.
