Question: Which city of India is declared as the most polluted city in as per the Greenpeace India Report released on January 21, 2020?
(a) New Delhi
(b) Kanpur
(c) Jharia
(d) Raipur
Answer: (c)
Related facts:
- The fourth issue of Airpocalypse report by Greenpeace was released in January 21, 2020.
- The report has details of the air quality of different cities of India as well as it traces the improvement and degradation in it. The report has different projections which mention about the impact of the government policies on the air quality.
Major Highlight of the report:
- Jharia city of Jharkhand has been again declared as the most polluted city of India for the second time in a row.
- For the first time, Air Quality was seen and discussed as a public hazard by the political parties in India.
- Hazardous pollution level also led to the declaration of Health Emergency by the government in various cities.
- The report identified 231 Indian cities out of 287 surveyed having more than 52 monitoring days data in 2018 under National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP), where air pollution levels exceeded the 60 µg/m3 limits for PM10 as prescribed under National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
- Jharia topped the list in terms of PM10 with a score of 322. Dhandbad of Jharkhand was at the second place with 264 score in PM10.
- Noida, Ghaziabad of Uttar Pradesh got was at third and fourth sport respectively.
- Ahmedabad was at fifth spot while capital New Delhi was spotted at the 10th place with 225 score in PM10.
- Delhi witnessed improvement in the air quality as compared to last two years but still remains more than 3.5 times more polluted than the NAAQS and more than 11 times the WHO prescribed limits for PM10.
- The report also highlights that almost all states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka, TamilNadu and Bihar have a bigger number of non-attainment cities compared to the current number included under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
- Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released the first ever NCAP for India in January 2019.
- This project aims the cities to reduce their air pollution levels by 20-30% by 2024 from 2017 levels.
- Airpocalypse – IV Report however highlights that CPCB has identified only 122 non-attainment cities and 102 of them included under NCAP till now.
- These 122 cities are spread across 28 states and 9 union territories and is incomplete leaving 116 more cities which exceeding 60 µg/m3 limit prescribed by NAAQS according to 2018 annual data and should be included in the non-attainment category.
- The Report is a clear indication that MoEFCC needs to include all non-attainment cities under the fold of NCAP. While all the cities listed under NCAP have submitted city specific clean air action plan, which have been approved by CPCB for ground implementation.
- More than 80% cities had PM10 levels exceeding the 60 µg/m3 limits for PM10 prescribed under National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
- The city level action plans provided by the non-attainment cities under NCAP also lacks regional and air-shed level approach and are too city centric i.e, of course vehicular emissions within the city are a part of the problem but the major emitters in the nearby regions should not be ignored. More emphasis needs to be laid on the regional and air-shed approach for air quality control.”
Links:
https://storage.googleapis.com/planet4-india-stateless/2019/08/88c10172-airpocalypse-iv.pdf
https://www.greenpeace.org/india/en/publication/4633/airpocalypse-iv-national-air-monitoring-programme-namp-assessment-of-air-pollution-in-indian-cities-2/
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/jharkhands-jharia-most-polluted-city-in-india-report/articleshow/73482528.cms?from=mdr