Cong hits out at BJP’s “denial mode” on India’air pollution crisis

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday criticised the Centre for its handling of India's worsening air pollution crisis, highlighting alarming statistics and calling for urgent policy reforms.

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His remarks come in response to the 2024 World Air Quality Report by Swiss air technology company IQAir, which ranks India as the fifth most polluted country globally. The report reveals that 74 of the world's 100 most polluted cities are in India, with New Delhi as the second-most polluted city worldwide, following Byrnihat in Meghalaya.

"Among the lesser-known tragedies of the non-biological PM's reign is the rapidly deteriorating air quality nationally and the inattentiveness and policy chaos that has characterised the government's response to it," the Congress leader said.

The AIIC general secretary quoted a Lancet study published in June, 2024, pointing out that air pollution is responsible for 7.2% of all deaths in India, with approximately 34,000 deaths annually across ten cities.

Senior Congress leader Ramesh accused the government of being in denial mode over the deaths due to pollution in the country. He cited an instance of 29th July 2024, wherein upon being asked a question about the Lancet study, the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change had "made the shocking claim in the Rajya Sabha that there was no conclusive data to directly correlate air pollution and deaths."

He also highlighted a last year's study by the Mumbai-based International Institute of Population Sciences, stating that in districts where air pollution exceeds National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), there is a 13percent increase in premature mortality for adults and around 100percent increase in mortality for children. He said the data unraveled the "worst kept secret in India - that air pollution is costing thousands of Indians their lives and health."

He said, "The government’s modus operandi is to deny that there is a real air pollution-linked mortality problem, under fund programmes targeted at mitigating pollution, fail to utilize the resources that it allocates, and misuse the funds that do get spent."

According to the Congress leader, a study by the Centre for Science and Environment in July 2024 revealed that the government's National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has been ineffective. In the last five years, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) left over 75 per cent of the Environment Protection Charge (EPC) and Environmental Compensation (EC) funds (Rs 665.75 crore) unutilised.

The Congress leader also criticised NCAP's focus on controlling road dust while failing to address the primary sources of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution—industrial, vehicular, and biomass emissions—which he said are the leading causes of pollution-related deaths.

The Congress leader recommended some steps that the government must take moving forward to combat air pollution including revamp of both the Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act of 1981 and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

He recommended the government to take steps to combat air pollution including: recognising air pollution as a public health emergency and overhaul outdated environmental laws; increase the NCAP budget from Rs 10,500 crores to Rs 25,000 crores for better pollution control measures; shift focus to major emission sources, including vehicular pollution, industrial emissions, and burning of solid fuels; adopt a regional or “airshed” approach to air quality management, promoting collaboration across states and municipalities; provide NCAP with legal enforcement powers and extend monitoring beyond “non-attainment” cities to cover all of India; strictly regulate coal power plants, ensuring the installation of Flue Gas Desulfurisation (FGD) units by 2025 and strengthen environmental institutions such as the National Green Tribunal and roll back environmental law amendments that weakened protections.