Patiala only Indian city with clean air as new anti-pollution plan stumbles

Current Affairs:

Almost a month after the launch of a national programme for air pollution abatement, cities across India--home to 14 of the most polluted cities in the world--continued to breathe toxic air during the winter of 2018-19.

Only Patiala among 74 cities assessed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) met the national safe air standards as on February 4, 2019, said a CPCB daily bulletin.

On January 17, 2019, Ghaziabad, an industrial city bordering capital Delhi, reported a 24-hour average for toxic particulate matter (PM) 2.5 that was 14 times higher than World Health Organization’s (WHO) safe standard. The PM 2.5 average that day in Ghaziabad was six times higher than even India’s own, more lenient, safe-air standard. The national standard allows 2.4 times higher levels of particulate matter than the WHO’s.

The air quality in the world’s most polluted city, Delhi--home to 20 million people--remained above safe limits almost all days this winter between November 2018 and the first week of January 2019, IndiaSpend reported on January 17, 2019.


To fix this pollution crisis, the Indian government launched its first-ever national framework called National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) on January 10, 2019.