September 11, 2023: Indore has been ranked first in the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2023 (Clean Air Survey 2023), conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board. The announcement was made by the union minister for environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav on September 7, 2023. This city in Madhya Pradesh is an emerging information technology (IT) hub.
Indore was ranked first under the first category (with a million plus population), followed by Agra in Uttar Pradesh and Thane in Maharashtra. Under the second category (with a population of three to 10 lakh), Amravati in Maharashtra ranked first, followed by Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh.
Under the third category (with less than three lakh population), Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh obtained first rank followed by Kala Amb in Himachal Pradesh and Angul in Odisha.
The union minister said, on August 15, 2020, prime minister Narendra Modi announced the government’s plan to improve the air quality in over 100 cities through a holistic approach. He further said that the government has been implementing the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a national-level strategy since 2019, outlining the actions for reducing air pollution at the city and regional levels in India. Yadav said that 131 cities had been identified to implement the city-specific action plans under the programme. It focuses on preparing and implementing national-level, state-level and city-level action plans of the targeted cities. The coordinated implementation of these plans aims to improve air quality in these cities and the entire country, he said.
National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
The ministry of environment, forest and climate change launched the NCAP in January 2019, focusing on a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy to address air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner.
The programme focuses on reducing up to 40% or achieving National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter10 (PM 10) concentrations by 2025-26.
Government launches portal for monitoring NCAP implementation
The union minister said that the NCAP Ministry has launched Portal for Regulation of Air Pollution in Non-Attainment Cities (Prana), for monitoring implementation of NCAP. In the portal, action plans of cities, states and line ministries will be displayed and monitored for their implementation status. Further, best practices adopted by cities are shared on the Prana for adopting these practices by other cities.
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