Parliament Question: Performance of the National Clean Air Programme

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 386 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.02.2026 Performance of the National Clean Air Programme 386. SHRI SURESH KUMAR SHETKAR: SHRI MANICKAM TAGORE B: SHRI VIJAYAKUMAR ALIAS VIJAY VASANTH: SHRI V K SREEKANDAN: Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government project, National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as effective even when 1,787 towns facing chronic air pollution, yet only 130 cities are covered, leaving the vast majority of affected populations outside policy intervention; (b) whether the Government accept air pollution as a nationwide structural public health crisis, and if so, the reasons behind NCAP currently address barely four percent of chronically polluted statutory towns; (c) the reasons for 28 NCAP cities still lack Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations, despite monitoring being fundamental for scientific assessment, accountability, and protection of citizens’ health; (d) whether 100 out of 102 monitored cities report PM10 levels exceeding 80 per cent of permissible limits, showing persistent and worsening pollution trends, if so, the reaction of the Government thereto; and (e) whether the Government has failed to officially declare air pollution a public health emergency despite satellite data showing sustained PM2.5 violations across forty-four per cent of India’s statutory towns, if so, the action taken by the Government in this regard? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH) (a) to (e): Government of India has launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 as a long-term, time-bound, national-level strategy to address air pollution in 130 cities across 24 States/UTs. A total of 130 cities, including 122 non-attainment cities that failed to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10 levels for five consecutive years (2015-2019), and 8 million-plus cities and urban agglomeration areas. These 130 cities include Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities across 24 States/UTs. City Specific Clean Air Action Plans have been prepared for all 130 cities under NCAP to implement air quality improvement measures in respective cities to target air pollution sources like soil & road dust, vehicular emissions, waste burning, Construction & Demolition activities and industrial pollution.Performance linked grant of ₹ 13,852.20 crore has been released to 130 cities under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a critical gap funding to implement air pollution mitigation measures, since 2019-20 till date. In addition to this, NCAP emphasizes mobilization of resources through the convergence of resources from various Central Government schemes such as Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), AMRUT, Smart City Mission, PM e-Bus Sewa, PM E-DRIVE, SATAT, and Nagar Van Yojana, as well as resources from State Govts./ UT administration and agencies like Municipal Corporations and Urban Development authorities. Various Ministries/Departments of Govt. of India provide funding under their Schemes/ Programmes as per their budgets. To tackle air pollution in emergencies, Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) for Delhi-NCR has been prepared, which provides set of emergency response actions, depending on severity of air pollution levels, and implemented by identified agencies for minimizing air pollution in the Delhi- NCR during the peak winter months. Emergency Response System (ERS) in line with Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) of Delhi- NCR, has been developed in identified non-attainment/ million plus cities under NCAP. The higher emission zones/hotspots within the city have been identified and detailed action plan for the identified sources in these hotspots have been prepared. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, issued ‘Health Advisory on Air Pollution’ to all States/UTs for strengthening health care services to address health issues arising due to exposure to air pollution. CPCB issued criteria for establishing and operation of Ambient Air Quality Monitoring stations. Accordingly, 1601 monitoring stations (566 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations and 1035 Manual monitoring stations) have been installed in 583 cities across the country. PM2.5 monitoring is carried out in more than 492 cities. In 130 cities covered under NCAP, 838 monitoring stations are operational for collection of ambient air quality data as well as air assessment of quality performance of cities. In 28 NCAP cities where continuous monitoring stations are not available, 82 ambient air quality stations are functional and ground level air quality data is monitored regularly by CPCB and SPCBs. Air quality data collection through satellite technology has inherent limitations and uncertainties and lacks ground level validation. Satellites Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) measurements are only indicative of aerosol loading in the entire atmospheric column and could be influenced by upper aerosol layers and cloud contaminations and do not accurately measure the real ground level PM2.5 concentrations. The focused actions by 130 cities under NCAP have shown positive results with 103 cities showing reduction in PM10 concentration in 2024-25 with respect to 2017-18, out of which 64 cities have shown reduction in PM10 levels by more than 20% and 25 of these cities have achieved a reduction of more than 40%. A total of 22 Cities have met National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and have PM10 Concentrations less than 60 μg/m3. Air quality details of 130 cities under NCAP, are enclosed at Annexure -I. ****Annexure I States Sl. Cities Average of Average of % improvement in No. PM (µg/m3) PM (µg/m3) PM (µg/m3) 10 10 10 concentration concentration concentration in FY for FY 2017- for FY 2024- 2024-25 18 25 w.r.t. FY 2017-18 1 Ananthpur 78 60 23.1 2 Chittoor 70 60 14.3 3 Eluru 72 64 11.1 4 Guntur 66 64 3.0 5 Kadapa 75 56 25.3 6 Kurnool 79 60 24.1 Andhra 7 Nellore 64 51 20.3 Pradesh 8 Ongole 65 58 10.8 9 Rajahmundry 85 59 30.6 10 Srikakulam 69 79 -14.5 11 Vijayawada 91 64 29.7 12 Visakhapatnam 76 101 -32.9 13 Vizhianagaram 72 74 -2.8 14 Guwahati 103 100 2.9 15 Nagaon 82 65 20.7 Assam 16 Nalbari 87 85 2.3 17 Silchar 49 54 -10.2 18 Sivasagar 73 55 24.7 19 Patna 172 167 2.9 Bihar 20 Gaya 79 87 -10.1 21 Muzaffarpur 147 131 10.9 Chandigarh 22 Chandigarh 114 114 0.0 23 Korba 57 69 -21.1 24 Durg Chhattisgarh 86 69 19.8 Bhilainagar 25 Raipur 70 75 -7.1 Delhi 26 Delhi 241 203 15.8 27 Ahmedabad 164 103 37.2 28 Rajkot 150 89 40.7 Gujarat 29 Surat 130 71 45.4 30 Vadodara 133 90 32.3 Haryana 31 Faridabad 229 147 35.8 32 Baddi 174 108 37.9 33 Damtal 55 56 -1.8 Himachal 34 Kala Amb 118 84 28.8 Pradesh 35 Nalagarh 146 68 53.4 36 Paonta Sahib 84 81 3.6States Sl. Cities Average of Average of % improvement in No. PM (µg/m3) PM (µg/m3) PM (µg/m3) 10 10 10 concentration concentration concentration in FY for FY 2017- for FY 2024- 2024-25 18 25 w.r.t. FY 2017-18 37 Parwanoo 66 48 27.3 38 Sunder Nagar 78 47 39.7 39 Jammu 157 124 21.0 Jammu 40 Srinagar 132 76 42.4 41 Dhanbad 315 166 47.3 Jharkhand 42 Jamshedpur 135 145 -7.4 43 Ranchi 141 107 24.1 44 Bengaluru 92 68 26.1 45 Devanagere 74 57 23.0 46 Gulburga / Karnataka 55 52 5.5 Kalaburgi 47 Hubli- 79 61 22.8 Dharwad 48 Bhopal 112 107 4.5 49 Dewas 83 86 -3.6 50 Gwalior 126 117 7.1 Madhya 51 Indore 82 83 -1.2 Pradesh 52 Jabalpur 101 73 27.7 53 Sagar 73 79 -8.2 54 Ujjain 93 80 14.0 55 Aurangabad 75 100 -33.3 56 Akola 111 74 33.3 57 Amravati 102 76 25.5 58 Badlapur 160 90 43.8 59 Chandrapur 118 111 5.9 60 Greater 161 90 44.1 Mumbai 61 Jalgaon 70 93 -32.9 62 Jalna 99 93 6.1 63 Kolhapur 89 81 9.0 Maharashtra 64 Latur 82 67 18.3 65 Nagpur 100 92 8.0 66 Nashik 82 76 7.3 67 Navi Mumbai 88 90 -2.3 68 Pune 102 93 8.8 69 Sangli 87 74 14.9 70 Solapur 81 83 -2.5 71 Thane 138 90 34.8 72 Ulhasnagar 153 90 41.2 73 Vasai-virar 99 90 9.1States Sl. Cities Average of Average of % improvement in No. PM (µg/m3) PM (µg/m3) PM (µg/m3) 10 10 10 concentration concentration concentration in FY for FY 2017- for FY 2024- 2024-25 18 25 w.r.t. FY 2017-18 Meghalaya 74 Byrnihat 175 98 44.0 75 Dimapur 142 112 21.1 Nagaland 76 Kohima 127 71 44.1 77 Angul 97 116 -19.6 78 Balasore 84 93 -10.7 79 Bhubaneshwar 85 86 -1.2 Odisha 80 Cuttack 93 89 4.3 81 Kalinga Nagar 109 109 0.0 82 Rourkela 99 111 -12.1 83 Talcher 113 119 -5.3 84 Amritsar 189 112 40.7 85 Dera Baba 79 58 26.6 Nanak 86 Dera Bassi 88 98 -11.4 87 Jalandhar 178 99 44.4 Punjab 88 Khanna 142 101 28.9 89 Ludhiana 168 129 23.2 90 Mandi 148 124 16.2 Gobindgarh 91 Naya Nangal 87 58 33.3 92 Patiala 106 91 14.2 93 Jaipur 172 142 17.4 94 Alwar 152 105 30.9 Rajasthan 95 Jodhpur 189 122 35.4 96 Kota 139 115 17.3 97 Udaipur 127 121 4.7 98 Chennai 66 58 12.1 99 Madurai 72 61 15.3 Tamil Nadu 100 Trichy 88 57 35.2 101 Tuticorin 123 56 54.5 102 Hyderabad 110 81 26.4 Telangana 103 Nalgonda 59 78 -32.2 104 Sangareddy 85 86 -1.2 Uttar Pradesh 105 Agra 202 103 49.0 106 Allahabad 169 99 41.4 107 Ghaziabad 285 154 46.0 108 Kanpur 227 102 55.1 109 Lucknow 253 142 43.9 110 Meerut 159 133 16.4 111 Varanasi 230 59 74.3States Sl. Cities Average of Average of % improvement in No. PM (µg/m3) PM (µg/m3) PM (µg/m3) 10 10 10 concentration concentration concentration in FY for FY 2017- for FY 2024- 2024-25 18 25 w.r.t. FY 2017-18 112 Anpara 175 155 11.4 113 Bareily 207 48 76.8 114 Firozabad 247 100 59.5 115 Gajraula 204 148 27.5 116 Gorakhpur 150 105 30.0 117 Jhansi 109 60 45.0 118 Khurja 195 159 18.5 119 Moradabad 222 96 56.8 120 Noida 229 149 34.9 121 Raebareli 145 79 45.5 122 Dehradun 250 107 57.2 Uttarakhand 123 Kashipur 99 93 6.1 124 Rishikesh 129 84 34.9 125 Asansol 147 131 10.9 126 Barrackpore 86 92 -7.0 127 Durgapur 150 149 0.7 West Bengal 128 Haldia 92 81 12.0 129 Howrah 139 92 33.8 130 Kolkata 147 92 37.4