**Executive Summary**
This document is a response to a parliamentary question regarding the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which was launched in January 2019 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The NCAP aims to improve air quality in 130 cities across 24 states/UTs by implementing National, State, and City-level clean air action plans. It also specifies targets for annual air pollution reduction in cities in terms of PM10 levels for the period 2019-20 to 2025-26.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **NCAP Implementation:**
* The NCAP was launched in January 2019 to improve air quality in 130 cities across 24 States/UTs.
* National, State and City level clean air action plans are to be implemented.
* Each of the 130 cities have City Specific Clean Air Action Plans.
* Plans target air pollution from road dust, vehicular emissions, waste burning, construction, demolition, and industrial pollution.
* **Funding and Resources:**
* Performance-linked grants of ₹13,415.43 crore have been provided to 130 cities for air pollution mitigation during 2019-20 till date.
* Resources are mobilised through convergence of Central & State Government schemes (e.g., Swachh Bharat Mission, AMRUT, Smart City Mission).
* **Air Quality Monitoring and Assessment:**
* Air quality is monitored at 836 stations in 130 cities under NCAP.
* CPCB conducts annual performance assessment of the 130 cities.
* Performance-linked grants are allocated to cities; better-performing cities receive additional funding and recognition.
* **Air Quality Improvement Targets and Results:**
* Cities have annual air pollution reduction targets for PM10 levels from 2019-20 to 2025-26.
* Actions targeting PM10 also reduce PM2.5 levels.
* 103 cities have shown reduction in PM10 concentration in 2024-25 with respect to 2017-18.
* 64 cities have shown reduction in PM10 levels by more than 20%.
* 25 cities have achieved a reduction of more than 40%.
* 22 cities have met National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
* Details of air quality improvement for each city are in Annexure I.
**Impact Analysis**
* **Central and State Governments:**
**Impact**
* Required to collaborate and converge resources from various schemes to support the NCAP implementation.
**Action Required**
* Mobilise resources through schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), AMRUT, and Smart City Mission.
* **Municipal Corporations and Local Authorities:**
**Impact**
* Responsible for developing and implementing City Specific Clean Air Action Plans.
* Subject to performance assessment by the CPCB.
**Action Required**
* Implement air quality improvement measures targeting key pollution sources.
* Achieve annual air pollution reduction targets in PM10 levels by 2025-26.
* **130 Identified Cities:**
**Impact**
* Subject to air quality monitoring.
* Eligible for performance-linked grants.
**Action Required**
* Implement City Specific Clean Air Action Plans.
* Achieve annual air pollution reduction targets in PM10 levels.
Key Entities Referenced
National Clean Air Programme (NCAP): A program launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in January 2019 to improve air quality in 130 cities by reducing PM2.5 and PM10 levels.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC): The ministry that launched and oversees the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
130 cities: The cities covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) where action plans are being implemented.
City Specific Clean Air Action Plans: Plans developed by each of the 130 cities under NCAP to implement air quality improvement measures.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 49
TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.12.2025
Roadmap of the National Clean Air Programme
49. SHRI GAURAV GOGOI:
Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:
(a) the current status of National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) implementation across the
identified non-attainment cities;
(b) the list of cities that have achieved or are close to achieving the air quality improvement
targets since NCAP’s launch in 2019;
(c) whether any assessment has been conducted on NCAP’s progress towards the target of 40
per cent reduction in PM 2.5 and PM10 levels by 2026;
(d) whether the Government is aware that several cities continue to record hazardous air quality
despite implementation of the NCAP and the reasons identified therefor; and
(e) the timeline for revising NCAP targets and integrating climate–air quality co-benefit
strategies into the programme?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND
CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)
(a) to (e) National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched by the Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in January 2019 to improve air quality in 130 cities in 24
States/ UTs of the country through implementation of National, State and City level clean air action
plans.
City Specific Clean Air Action Plans have been prepared by all 130 cities to implement air quality
improvement measures in respective cities. These plans target air pollution sources like soil & road
dust, vehicular emissions, waste burning, Construction & Demolition activities, and industrial
pollution.
Performance linked grant of ₹ 13,415.43 crore has been provided to 130 cities as a critical gap
funding to implement air pollution mitigation measures, during 2019-20 till date. The programme
also leverages mobilisation of resources through convergence of various schemes of Central &
State Governments such as Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), AMRUT, Smart City Mission, PMe-Bus Sewa, PM E-DRIVE, Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation
(SATAT), and Nagar Van Yojana, as well as resources of State Govts. / UT administration,
Municipal Corporations and other developmental authorities for implementation of action plans.
Air quality monitoring is conducted at 836 stations in 130 cities under NCAP. CPCB carries out
the annual performance assessment of all 130 cities under NCAP. Cities receive performance-
linked grants to implement their action plans. Better-performing cities are incentivized through
additional funding and recognition.
Under the programme, cities have been provided annual air pollution reduction targets in terms of
PM10 levels for the period 2019-20 to 2025-26. PM , being a subset of PM , also gets reduced
2.5 10
to certain extent with actions aimed at PM reduction.
10
The 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, out of which 64 cities have
10
shown reduction in PM levels by more than 20% and 25 of these cities have achieved a reduction
10
of more than 40%. A total of 22 Cities have met National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS) and have PM Concentrations less than 60 µg/m3. Details of air quality improvement
10
in cities covered under NCAP is enclosed at Annexure I.
*****Annexure I
Improvement in PM10 concentrations of 130 Cities under NCAP in FY 2024-25 w.r.t. FY
2017-18
2017-18 2024-25
Average Average % improvement in
Sl.
Cities concentration concentration 2024-25
No.
(F.Y.) of PM (F.Y.) of PM w.r.t. FY 2017-18
10 10
(µg/m3) (µg/m3)
1 Bareilly 207 48 76.8
2 Varanasi 230 59 74.3
3 Firozabad 247 100 59.5
4 Dehradun 250 107 57.2
5 Moradabad 222 96 56.8
6 Kanpur 227 102 55.1
7 Tuticorin 123 56 54.5
8 Nalagarh 146 68 53.4
9 Agra 202 103 49.0
10 Dhanbad 315 166 47.3
11 Ghaziabad 285 154 46.0
12 Raebareli 145 79 45.5
13 Surat 130 71 45.4
14 Jhansi 109 60 45.0
15 Jalandhar 178 99 44.4
16 Greater Mumbai 161 90 44.1
17 Kohima 127 71 44.1
18 Byrnihat 175 98 44.0
19 Lucknow 253 142 43.9
20 Badlapur 160 90 43.8
21 Srinagar 132* 76 42.4
22 Allahabad 169 99 41.4
23 Ulhasnagar 153 90 41.2
24 Amritsar 189 112 40.7
25 Rajkot 150 89 40.7
26 Sunder Nagar 78 47 39.7
27 Baddi 174 108 37.9
28 Kolkata 147 92 37.4
29 Ahmedabad 164 103 37.2
30 Faridabad 229* 147 35.8
31 Jodhpur 189 122 35.4
32 Trichy 88 57 35.22017-18 2024-25
Average Average % improvement in
Sl.
Cities concentration concentration 2024-25
No.
(F.Y.) of PM (F.Y.) of PM w.r.t. FY 2017-18
10 10
(µg/m3) (µg/m3)
33 Noida 229 149 34.9
34 Rishikesh 129 84 34.9
35 Thane 138 90 34.8
36 Howrah 139 92 33.8
37 Akola 111 74 33.3
38 Naya Nangal 87 58 33.3
39 Vadodara 133 90 32.3
40 Alwar 152 105 30.9
41 Rajahmundry 85 59 30.6
42 Gorakhpur 150 105 30.0
43 Vijayawada 91 64 29.7
44 Khanna 142 101 28.9
45 Kala Amb 118 84 28.8
46 Jabalpur 101 73 27.7
47 Gajraula 204 148 27.5
48 Parwanoo 66 48 27.3
49 Dera Baba Nanak 79 58 26.6
50 Hyderabad 110 81 26.4
51 Bengaluru 92 68 26.1
52 Amravati 102 76 25.5
53 Kadapa 75 56 25.3
54 Sibasagar 73 55 24.7
55 Ranchi 141 107 24.1
56 Kurnool 79 60 24.1
57 Ludhiana 168 129 23.2
58 Anantapur 78 60 23.1
59 Davangere 74 57 23.0
60 Hubli-Dharwad 79 61 22.8
61 Dimapur 142 112 21.1
62 Jammu 157 124 21.0
63 Nagaon 82 65 20.7
64 Nellore 64 51 20.3
65 Durg Bhilainagar 86 69 19.8
66 Khurja 195 159 18.5
67 Latur 82 67 18.3
68 Jaipur 172 142 17.42017-18 2024-25
Average Average % improvement in
Sl.
Cities concentration concentration 2024-25
No.
(F.Y.) of PM (F.Y.) of PM w.r.t. FY 2017-18
10 10
(µg/m3) (µg/m3)
69 Kota 139 115 17.3
70 Meerut 159 133 16.4
71 Mandi Gobindgarh 148 124 16.2
72 Delhi 241 203 15.8
73 Madurai 72 61 15.3
74 Sangli 87 74 14.9
75 Chittoor 70 60 14.3
76 Patiala 106 91 14.2
77 Ujjain 93 80 14.0
78 Chennai 66 58 12.1
79 Haldia 92 81 12.0
80 Anpara 175 155 11.4
81 Eluru 72 64 11.1
82 Muzaffarpur 147 131 10.9
83 Asansol 147 131 10.9
84 Ongole 65 58 10.8
85 Vasai Virar 99 90 9.1
86 Kolhapur 89 81 9.0
87 Pune 102 93 8.8
88 Nagpur 100 92 8.0
89 Nashik 82 76 7.3
90 Gwalior 126 117 7.1
91 Jalna 99 93 6.1
92 Kashipur 99 93 6.1
93 Chandrapur 118 111 5.9
Gulburga /
94 55 52
Kalaburgi 5.5
95 Udaipur 127 121 4.7
96 Bhopal 112 107 4.5
97 Cuttack 93 89 4.3
98 Paonta Sahib 84 81 3.6
99 Guntur 66 64 3.0
100 Guwahati 103 100 2.9
101 Patna 172 167 2.9
102 Nalbari 87 85 2.3
103 Durgapur 150 149 0.72017-18 2024-25
Average Average % improvement in
Sl.
Cities concentration concentration 2024-25
No.
(F.Y.) of PM (F.Y.) of PM w.r.t. FY 2017-18
10 10
(µg/m3) (µg/m3)
104 Chandigarh 114 114 0.0
105 Kalinga Nagar 109 109 0.0
106 Bhubaneshwar 85 86 -1.2
107 Sangareddy 85 86 -1.2
108 Indore 82 83 -1.2
109 Damtal 55 56 -1.8
110 Navi Mumbai 88 90 -2.3
111 Solapur 81 83 -2.5
112 Vizianagaram 72 74 -2.8
113 Dewas 83 86 -3.6
114 Talcher 113 119 -5.3
115 Barrackpore 86 92 -7.0
116 Raipur 70 75 -7.1
117 Jamshedpur 135 145 -7.4
118 Sagar 73 79 -8.2
119 Gaya 79 87 -10.1
120 Silchar 49 54 -10.2
121 Balasore 84 93 -10.7
122 Dera Bassi 88 98 -11.4
123 Rourkela 99 111 -12.1
124 Srikakulam 69 79 -14.5
125 Angul 97 116 -19.6
126 Korba 57 69 -21.1
127 Nalgonda 59 78 -32.2
128 Jalgaon 70 93 -32.9
129 Visakhapatnam 76 101 -32.9
130 Aurangabad 75 100 -33.3
* PM levels in the FY 2017-18 for Faridabad and Srinagar are not available. PM levels of FY
10 10
2020-21 for Faridabad and PM levels of FY 2018-19 for Srinagar have been considered as a
10
baseline.
*****