Cong slams Centre over air pollution, cites policy failure

Calling air pollution “India’s worst-kept secret”, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday slammed the Modi government, citing a report that he said exposed the scale of the country’s air quality emergency and the shortcomings of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

Referring to a study by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the former Union Environment Minister said that the findings confirmed that air pollution was no longer confined to a few metropolitan hotspots.

According to the analysis, Ramesh said that nearly 44 per cent of India’s statutory towns — 1,787 out of 4,041 assessed — have suffered from chronic air pollution, with PM2.5 levels exceeding national standards for five consecutive years between 2019 and 2024, excluding the Covid-affected year of 2020.

Calling the NCAP “ineffective”, Ramesh said only 130 cities were currently covered under the programme despite the scale of the problem. Even within this limited scope, he alleged that implementation remained weak, with 28 cities still lacking continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS). Among the 102 cities with monitoring infrastructure, 100 reported PM10 levels of 80 per cent or higher. “In totality, NCAP currently addresses only four per cent of India’s chronically polluted cities,” he said.

Taking a swipe at the programme, Ramesh remarked, “Propagated as the National Clear Air Programme is actually another type of NCAP — Notional Clear Air Programme. It now needs a thorough overhaul and reform.”

He proposed several reforms, including a complete revamp of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and a reassessment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) notified in 2009. He also pointed out that India’s permissible PM2.5 limits — 40 µg/m³ annually and 60 µg/m³ over 24 hours, were far weaker than the World Health Organisation guidelines of 5 µg/m³ annually and 15 µg/m³ over 24 hours.

Ramesh said, “The government must drastically increase the funds made available under the NCAP. The current budget, inclusive of NCAP funding and the 15th Finance Commission’s grants, is about Rs 10,500 crore, spread across 131 cities! Our cities need at least 10–20 times more funding. NCAP must be made a Rs 25,000 crore programme and spread across the 1,000 most polluted towns in the country.”