Rs 31 cr spent, no improvement in Chandigarh air quality in seven years

Despite spending Rs 31.17 crore under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), Chandigarh has failed to record even a single per cent improvement in its air quality over the past seven years.

According to the data presented in the Lok Sabha on Monday by Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh, the city’s PM10 levels have remained stagnant at 114 micrograms per cubic metre from 2017-18 to 2024-25, showing that the expenditure has not yielded any concrete results.

The Central Government had released Rs 38.09 crore under the NCAP and XV Finance Commission schemes from 2019- 20 to 2025-26 (till date), of which Rs 31.17 crore has already been utilised. Yet, Chandigarh’s air pollution levels have neither decreased, nor increased during this period.

Chandigarh lacked improvement, while several major cities have reduced pollution level. Mumbai recorded a 44% improvement, Kolkata 37% and Delhi 15%.

The minister stated that the focussed action by 130 cities under the NCAP had shown positive results with 103 cities showing reduction in PM10 concentration in 2024-25 as compared to 2017-18. Sixtyfour cities have shown reduction in PM10 levels by more than 20% with respect to base year 2017-18, while 25 of these have achieved a reduction of more than 40%.

However, experts attributed the city’s stagnant air quality to several key factors, including dust from construction activities, rising vehicular traffic, open burning of garbage and solid waste in many areas, emissions from small-scale industries in and around the city and lack of public awareness on pollution control measures.

Environmentalists argued that while funds were allocated, pollution control measures lacked effective implementation. They said Chandigarh needs a targeted approach, stricter enforcement and citizen involvement. “Without curbing construction dust and vehicular emissions, the city’s air quality will not improve,” they added.

The NCAP was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in January 2019 with an aim to improve air quality in 130 cities of the country, including Chandigarh, through implementation of national, state and city-level clean air action plans. These plans target air pollution sources like soil and road dust, vehicular emissions, waste burning, construction and demolition activities and industrial pollution.