NEW DELHI: In good news for Tamil Nadu on the environmental front, Thoothukudi and Tiruchy figure among the 21 cities to reduce PM10 pollution by more than 40 per cent compared to 2017-18 levels.
According to the data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), 95 of the 131 cities covered under the National Clean Air Programme have registered improvement in air quality. However, only 18 of the 131 National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) cities adhered to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10, set at 60 micrograms per cubic metre.
Apart from Thoothukudi and Tiruchy, the remaining 19 cities and urban agglomerations that achieved more than 40 per cent reduction in PM10 pollution are Varanasi, Dhanbad, Byrnihat, Bareilly, Firozabad, Dehradun, Nalagarh, Moradabad, Khurja, Kohima, Lucknow, Kanpur, Kadapa, Sivasagar, Sunder Nagar, Agra, Greater Mumbai, Rishikesh and Parwanoo.
Fourteen cities -- Ahmedabad, Ghaziabad, Rajkot, Jalandhar, Raebareli, Amritsar, Kolkata, Jammu, Silchar, Vijayawada, Naya Nangal, Dimapur, Baddi and Jodhpur -- reduced PM10 pollution by 30-40 per cent, compared to 2017-18 levels.
Khanna, Durgapur, Kurnool, Dera Baba Nanak, Vadodara, Allahabad, Asansol, Hyderabad, Gorakhpur, Ranchi, Bengaluru, Akola, Ananthapur, Durg Bhilainagar, Surat and Noida recorded a 20-30 per cent reduction in PM10 levels during the same period, the data showed.
A 10-20 per cent reduction in PM10 pollution was recorded in 21 cities -- Delhi, Howrah, Thane, Latur, Nellore, Gajraula, Alwar, Chittur, Kala Amb, Mandi Gobindgarh, Amravati, Patiala, Jaipur, Ongole, Chandrapur, Nashik, Jhansi, Sangli, Kota, Devanagere and Rajahmundry.
India launched the NCAP in 2019 with a target to reduce particulate pollution by 20-30 per cent by 2024, using 2017 as the base year.
The target was later revised to a 40 per cent reduction by 2026, using 2019-20 as the base year