BATHINDA: There is barely any difference in overall particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) trends between cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and those outside its ambit, states a new analysis by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), released on Tuesday on the eve of the UN International Day of Clean Air for Blue Sky. It says that both groups of cities reflect similar mixed trends in air quality in different climatic zones, showing they require substantial reduction in particulate pollution levels to be able to meet the national ambient air quality standards.
There are 16 NCAP cities and 15 non-NCAP cities that registered a significant increase in their annual PM2.5 levels – with near identical numbers. Same goes for cities (20 NCAP and 21 non-NCAP) that registered a significant improvement in their annual PM2.5 levels.
Hard and extended lockdowns in 2020 due to the pandemic had significant air quality impacts in all the monitored cities. But there is a negligible difference between the impact on NCAP and non-NCAP cities. Both groups of cities recorded nearly 12 per cent reduction in their aggregate 2020 PM2.5 level compared to the previous year.
Pollution bounced back with near similar intensity in both the groups in 2021. NCAP cities registered an aggregate 8 per cent increase in their annual PM2.5 levels in 2021 from the low of 2020. Similarly, non-NCAP cities registered a 7 per cent increase. It makes case for both NCAP and non-NCAP cities needing substantial reductions to meet the national ambient air quality standards.
The NCAP has set a national level target of 20-30 per cent reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by 2024 from the 2017 base year. But a latest performance assessment of NCAP cities by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for disbursement of performance-linked funds has considered only PM10 data that is largely coarse dust particles. As the monitoring of PM2.5- the tinier particles that are much more harmful – is limited, a uniform assessment of cities based on PM2.5 reduction has not been considered for performance assessment.
CSE carried out a national analysis of PM2.5 levels in cities for which data is available to understand the trend in both NCAP and non-NCAP cities, and the level of reduction needed in both the groups of cities to meet the national clean air standards. This has also exposed the status of air quality monitoring in terms of manual and real time monitoring, extent of PM10 and PM2.5 monitoring in cities, and challenges of data quality to construct and verify a longer term air quality trend.
The NCAP covers 132 cities — 82 of these have been funded by the Programme, while 50 cities have received funds from the 15th Finance Commission; Rs 6,425 crore has been released till 2021-22 and Rs 2,299 crore has been earmarked for 2022-23. Cities are required to quantify improvement starting 2020-21 – this requires 15 per cent and more reduction in the annual average PM10 concentration and a concurrent increase in good air days to more than 200. Anything less than that will be considered low and reduce the funding.
“While it is encouraging that funding of clean air action is linked to performance and the cities’ ability to demonstrate improvement in air quality, dependence on only manual monitoring of PM10 evidently creates a bias in spending as it shifts focus more towards dust control and detracts attention from composite action on industry, vehicles, waste and solid fuel burning,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at CSE.
Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra cities from NCAP dominate the list of cities which have registered a significant increase in PM2.5 levels between 2019 and 2021.
There are 46 cities that are not covered under NCAP, but have adequate real time data for both 2019 and 2021. In this group, 15 cities have registered a significant worsening of annual PM2.5 levels between 2019 and 2021. Ankleshwar in Gujarat with 34 percent increase in annual PM2.5 value is the worst performer in the pool, followed by Satna (Madhya Pradesh), Vatva (Gujarat), Bahadurgarh (Haryana), and Bathinda (Punjab); all of which have registered an over 20 percent increase.
Cities of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat dominate list of non-NCAP cities that have registered significant increase in air pollution levels between 2019 and 2020. However, Palwal in southern Haryana with a 60 per cent improvement in its annual PM2.5 level is the best performer among non-NCAP cities.
There are 16 NCAP cities and 15 non-NCAP cities that registered a significant increase in their annual PM2.5 levels – with near identical numbers. Same goes for cities (20 NCAP and 21 non-NCAP) that registered a significant improvement in their annual PM2.5 levels.
Hard and extended lockdowns in 2020 due to the pandemic had significant air quality impacts in all the monitored cities. But there is a negligible difference between the impact on NCAP and non-NCAP cities. Both groups of cities recorded nearly 12 per cent reduction in their aggregate 2020 PM2.5 level compared to the previous year.
Pollution bounced back with near similar intensity in both the groups in 2021. NCAP cities registered an aggregate 8 per cent increase in their annual PM2.5 levels in 2021 from the low of 2020. Similarly, non-NCAP cities registered a 7 per cent increase. It makes case for both NCAP and non-NCAP cities needing substantial reductions to meet the national ambient air quality standards.
The NCAP has set a national level target of 20-30 per cent reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations by 2024 from the 2017 base year. But a latest performance assessment of NCAP cities by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for disbursement of performance-linked funds has considered only PM10 data that is largely coarse dust particles. As the monitoring of PM2.5- the tinier particles that are much more harmful – is limited, a uniform assessment of cities based on PM2.5 reduction has not been considered for performance assessment.
CSE carried out a national analysis of PM2.5 levels in cities for which data is available to understand the trend in both NCAP and non-NCAP cities, and the level of reduction needed in both the groups of cities to meet the national clean air standards. This has also exposed the status of air quality monitoring in terms of manual and real time monitoring, extent of PM10 and PM2.5 monitoring in cities, and challenges of data quality to construct and verify a longer term air quality trend.
The NCAP covers 132 cities — 82 of these have been funded by the Programme, while 50 cities have received funds from the 15th Finance Commission; Rs 6,425 crore has been released till 2021-22 and Rs 2,299 crore has been earmarked for 2022-23. Cities are required to quantify improvement starting 2020-21 – this requires 15 per cent and more reduction in the annual average PM10 concentration and a concurrent increase in good air days to more than 200. Anything less than that will be considered low and reduce the funding.
“While it is encouraging that funding of clean air action is linked to performance and the cities’ ability to demonstrate improvement in air quality, dependence on only manual monitoring of PM10 evidently creates a bias in spending as it shifts focus more towards dust control and detracts attention from composite action on industry, vehicles, waste and solid fuel burning,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy at CSE.
Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra cities from NCAP dominate the list of cities which have registered a significant increase in PM2.5 levels between 2019 and 2021.
There are 46 cities that are not covered under NCAP, but have adequate real time data for both 2019 and 2021. In this group, 15 cities have registered a significant worsening of annual PM2.5 levels between 2019 and 2021. Ankleshwar in Gujarat with 34 percent increase in annual PM2.5 value is the worst performer in the pool, followed by Satna (Madhya Pradesh), Vatva (Gujarat), Bahadurgarh (Haryana), and Bathinda (Punjab); all of which have registered an over 20 percent increase.
Cities of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat dominate list of non-NCAP cities that have registered significant increase in air pollution levels between 2019 and 2020. However, Palwal in southern Haryana with a 60 per cent improvement in its annual PM2.5 level is the best performer among non-NCAP cities.
