Swachh Vayu Survekshan: Chandigarh fares poor on air quality
Dushyant Singh Pundir
Chandigarh, September 8
When it comes to clean air, the city still has to catch up with over a dozen and a half cities with population above 10 lakh. According to the Swachh Vayu Survekshan-2023 (Clean Air Survey), Chandigarh has been placed at the 22nd spot among 47 cities having population of over 10 lakh. The survey was conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Indore tops the list
- As per the Swachh Vayu Survekshan-2023, Indore secured the first rank with a score of 187 on 200 followed by Agra (186) and Thane (185.5). With a score of 158, Chandigarh has failed to find a place in the top 10, even as Delhi (177) stood at the ninth place.
- The Swachh Vayu Survekshan-2023 survey was conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board under the National Clean Air Programme of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Rs 3.44 cr given to MC to better air quality
- To improve air quality in the city, the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) had sanctioned an amount of Rs 1.72 crore to the Municipal Corporation (MC) for procurement of a mechanical street sweeping machine and anti-smog guns in February this year.
- In December last year, the CPCC had released Rs 1.72 crore to the MC, being one of the major stakeholder departments to achieve the desirable limits of the air quality parameters in achieving the desired air quality targets in Chandigarh.
- Under the National Clean Air Programme launched on January 10, 2019, Chandigarh is considered a non-attainment city as its air quality parameters are above permissible limits.
According to the report, Indore secured the first rank with a score of 187 on 200 followed by Agra (186) and Thane (185.5). Chandigarh, with a score of 158, has failed to find a place in the top 10, even as Delhi stood at the ninth place with a score of 177.
In the second category, with a population between 3-10 lakh, Amravati secured the first rank with a score of 194 followed by Moradabad (186.2) and Guntur (185.5), while Patiala, the only city from the region, stood at 15th rank with a score of 162 among a total of 44 cities.
Under the third category (population of less than 3 lakh), Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh secured the first rank followed by Kala Amb with 193.6 and 193 scores, respectively. Baddi, also in Himachal Pradesh, secured 12th rank with 171.2 score and Nalagarh stood at 14th position with a score of 165. Dera Bassi in Mohali district remained at the 37th position with 93.3 score among 40 cities in the category.
Under the NCAP, as many as 131 non-attainment cities have been identified for the implementation of city-specific action plans to achieve improvement in air quality. The aim of the programme is to reduce air pollution up to 40 per cent by the year 2025-26.
According to the ministry, the rankings are not based on the measurement of the air quality parameters, but on the actions taken by the cities to improve the air quality in different domains and the improvement on account of these steps.
Being landlocked, the city has the highest density of vehicles in the country (over 2 per capita household). Studies have shown that the air quality in the city is mostly affected by vehicular pollution. The major contributors to the air pollution in the UT included vehicular density, roadside dust, burning of dry leaves, litter from trees and gardens, operation of generator sets in certain areas adjoining the city and stubble burning in specific seasons of the year in neighbouring areas. Air quality data generated over the years has revealed that particulate matter concentrations are exceeding standard permissible limits in the city.
