Greenpeace has come up with a report on air quality in cities of India claiming that the government’s programme known as the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) earlier this month is not as adequate as suggested even if the goal of reaching reduction in PM 10 levels is reached in target cities in the next five years, which is 2024. Moreover, 139 cities which also includes smart cities will remain with hazardous levels of pollution making residents choke even then.
Airpocalypse III is the report of Greenpeace has data of pollution from 313 Indian cities, wherein 241 cities had PM10 levels beyond the prescription of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
Moreover, the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change had launched the NCAP also known as the five-year clean air mission wherein it aimed to reduce PM 10 levels in 102 cities by 20-30 %, which includes 43 smart cities, where it aims to reduce the PM10 levels by 20-30 per cent by 2024.
As per the report, 139 cities will still be battling hazardous levels of PM 10 even after targets are met by 2024. Greenpeace has used data of air quality data from Central and State Pollution Control Board of year 2017.
The omission by the government is because the list of non-attainment cities in the NCAP has been from data between 2011-2015. Greenpeace has also asked the government to revise the data and use 2017 for more accurate results.
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