These three cities with a population of over a million people topped the Swachh Vayu Survekshan (clean air survey) awards for their clean air, the government announced on Saturday.
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma presented the awards to the best performing cities where the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) is being implemented.
In the category of population between 300,000 and 1 million, Firozabad (Uttar Pradesh), Amravati (Maharashtra) and Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) were recognized as the top three and for cities with less than 300,000 inhabitants, the first was Raebareli (Uttar Pradesh ). , Nalgonda (Telangana) and Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh).
Municipal commissioners of the winning cities received cash prizes, trophies and certificates.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) reported that 51 cities have shown a reduction in PM10 levels of more than 20 percent compared to the base year 2017-18, and 21 of these cities achieved a reduction of more than 40 percent. penny.
According to the NCAP assessment document, the weighted sectors include burning of biomass and municipal solid waste, road dust, dust from construction and demolition waste, vehicular emissions and industrial emissions, among others.
Experts have previously noted that NCAP does not focus on combustion sources and may not be effectively curbing toxic emissions.
A Center for Science and Environment (CSE) assessment published in July found that road dust mitigation has been the primary focus of NCAP, which was launched in 2019 as the first effort to set clean air targets for 131 polluted cities and reduce particle pollution nationwide.
The assessment revealed that 64 per cent of the total funds (Rs 10,566 crore) have been allocated for paving, widening, pothole repair, water sprinkling and mechanical sweepers. Only 14.51 percent of the funds have been used to control biomass burning, 12.63 percent to reduce vehicular pollution and just 0.61 percent to control industrial pollution.
"The main objective of the funding is therefore the mitigation of road dust," according to the assessment.
NCAP aims to reduce particle pollution by up to 40 per cent by 2025-26 from the base year 2019-20. It is India's first performance-linked funding program to improve air quality.
NCAP was originally planned to address PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in the 131 non-compliant cities. In practice, only PM10 concentration has been considered for performance evaluation. According to the CSE's conclusions, PM2.5, the most harmful fraction emitted largely by combustion sources, has been neglected.
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma presented the awards to the best performing cities where the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) is being implemented.
In the category of population between 300,000 and 1 million, Firozabad (Uttar Pradesh), Amravati (Maharashtra) and Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) were recognized as the top three and for cities with less than 300,000 inhabitants, the first was Raebareli (Uttar Pradesh ). , Nalgonda (Telangana) and Nalagarh (Himachal Pradesh).
Municipal commissioners of the winning cities received cash prizes, trophies and certificates.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) reported that 51 cities have shown a reduction in PM10 levels of more than 20 percent compared to the base year 2017-18, and 21 of these cities achieved a reduction of more than 40 percent. penny.
According to the NCAP assessment document, the weighted sectors include burning of biomass and municipal solid waste, road dust, dust from construction and demolition waste, vehicular emissions and industrial emissions, among others.
Experts have previously noted that NCAP does not focus on combustion sources and may not be effectively curbing toxic emissions.
A Center for Science and Environment (CSE) assessment published in July found that road dust mitigation has been the primary focus of NCAP, which was launched in 2019 as the first effort to set clean air targets for 131 polluted cities and reduce particle pollution nationwide.
The assessment revealed that 64 per cent of the total funds (Rs 10,566 crore) have been allocated for paving, widening, pothole repair, water sprinkling and mechanical sweepers. Only 14.51 percent of the funds have been used to control biomass burning, 12.63 percent to reduce vehicular pollution and just 0.61 percent to control industrial pollution.
"The main objective of the funding is therefore the mitigation of road dust," according to the assessment.
NCAP aims to reduce particle pollution by up to 40 per cent by 2025-26 from the base year 2019-20. It is India's first performance-linked funding program to improve air quality.
NCAP was originally planned to address PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in the 131 non-compliant cities. In practice, only PM10 concentration has been considered for performance evaluation. According to the CSE's conclusions, PM2.5, the most harmful fraction emitted largely by combustion sources, has been neglected.
