According to a report released by the think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) on January 10, 2024, Byrnihat in Meghalaya has topped the list of polluted cities in India.
Key points of the report:
- CREA studied 227 cities with air quality data available for more than 75 percent of the days.
- 85 of these cities were included under the National Clean Air Program (NCAP).
- The data showed that PM10 levels exceeded the NAAQS (60 micrograms per cubic metre) in 78 of the 85 NCAP cities.
- Byrnihat recorded the highest annual average PM10 concentration of 301 micrograms per cubic meter in 2023.
- After this, Begusarai of Bihar (265 µg m-3) and Greater Noida of Uttar Pradesh (228 µg m-3) are in second and third place, respectively.
- Delhi is in eighth place on this list.
- Silchar in Assam recorded the lowest PM10 level at 29 micrograms per cubic metre.
- Of the top 50 polluted cities, 18 are from Bihar, 8 from Haryana and 8 from Rajasthan.
- The report noted that PM10 concentrations in the top 10 polluted cities were three to five times higher than Indian standards and 13–20 times higher than World Health Organisation limits.
National Clean Air Program (NCAP):
- It was launched in January 2019 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change as a national-level strategy to tackle the problem of air pollution across the country.
- Under this, it is envisaged that the target of 20 to 30% reduction in particulate matter (PM) concentrations by 2024 in 131 cities of 24 States/UTs will be achieved compared to the base year 2017.
- This includes cities still meeting the set air quality standards from 2011 to 2015.
- The government has now set a new target of reducing PM concentrations in these cities by 40 percent by 2026.