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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4371
TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2026
National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
4371 SMT. KIRAN CHOUDHRY:
SHRI BRIJ LAL:
Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Ministry is on track to meet the revised target of 40 percent PM10 reduction by the
end of 2026;
(b) if not, the reasons for the delay and the steps being taken to mitigate the same;
(c) whether the expansion of the monitoring network to 1,600 stations has improved the accuracy
of air quality data; and
(d) the specific progress made in conducting source apportionment studies for the remaining 40
non-attainment cities?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE
CHANGE
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)
(a) to (d): To address air pollution in the country, the Government of India has launched the
National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 to improve air quality in 130 cities (non-
attainment cities and Million Plus Cities) in 24 States/UTs by engaging all stakeholders.
City Specific Clean Air Action Plans prepared by 130 cities under NCAP are implemented to
reduce air pollution sources like soil & road dust, vehicular emissions, construction & demolition
activities, waste burning and industrial pollution, etc.
Under ‘Control of Pollution’ Scheme of MoEF&CC and XVth Finance Commission Million Plus
City Challenge Fund (MPCCF), air quality performance incentive of Rs.15,674.97 crore (as on
28th March, 2026) has been provided to 130 cities for implementing air quality improvement
measures.
Committees at National Level (Apex, Steering, Monitoring and Implementation), State level
(Steering and Monitoring) and City level Monitoring and Implementation Committee have been
constituted to coordinate, monitor, evaluate the progress and provide guidance for implementationof city action plans including utilization of funds under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)
of Control of Pollution Scheme.
Focused actions by 130 cities under NCAP have shown positive results with 103 cities showing
reduction in PM concentration in 2024-25 with respect to 2017-18, 64 cities have shown
10
reduction in PM levels by more than 20% with respect to base year 2017-18 and 25 of these cities
10
have achieved a reduction of more than 40%. A total of 22 Cities have met NAAQS and have PM
10
Concentrations less than 60 µg/m3.
CPCB has issued guidelines for establishing Ambient Air Quality Monitoring stations namely,
“Guidelines for the Measurement of Ambient Air Pollutants (Volume-I: Guidelines for Manual
Sampling & Analyses, and Volume-II: Guidelines for Real Time Sampling & Analyses)”. Further,
CPCB has also issued “Technical Handbook for Installation, Maintenance, Calibration, Data
Connectivity and Data Quality check of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System
(Real Time)”.
The Handbook provides for conducting Annual Audit of Continuous Ambient Air Quality
Monitoring Stations (CAAQMs) by third party who should have accreditation of ISO 17025 and
having expertise in the O&M of CAAQM System to ensure the proper functioning of the system
in respect of operation of analysers, their maintenance & calibration, data quality, operator skills,
etc.
Concerned State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution Control Committees install monitoring
stations to collect ambient air quality, in line with the criteria issued by the Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB) and these are run, operated and maintained by the respective agencies as
per the aforementioned framework.
Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations are equipped with state of art reference-grade systems,
delivering continuous and near real-time data. These monitoring systems provide accurate,
traceable, and reliable data, which is essential for compliance assessment under the National
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
CPCB in collaboration with SPCBs/PCCs have established nation-wide network of 1,614 ambient
air quality monitoring stations covering 584 cities in the country for measurement of ambient air
quality in these cities.
A centralised air quality portal and mobile app-SAMEER are functional for tracking and
dissemination of near real time air quality data and hourly Air Quality Index to the public. CPCB
issues a daily bulletin at 04:00 PM comprising AQI of various cities in the country including Delhi-
NCR. SAMEER app also serves as a grievance reddressal mechanism which allows the citizens to
report pollution related complaints for quick resolution by the concerned agencies.
Central Pollution Control Board issued “Conceptual Guidelines and Common Methodology for
Air Quality Monitoring, Emission Inventory (EI) & Source Apportionment (SA) Studies for Indian
Cities.” SPCBs/PCCs take up Source Apportionment Studies through various academic/ research
institutes for respective cities under NCAP in line with the CPCB guidelines to identify various
factors contributing to air pollution and prioritise the air quality improvement measures under cityaction plans. Source Apportionment (SA) studies have been carried out in 90 cities of NCAP and
remaining 40 cities have initiated the studies and are at various stages.
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