National clean air mission programme needs to take at grassroot level: Bhupender Yadav

New Delhi: Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav has said that National Clean Air Mission programme is a matter of priority and the government is working on it to take at the grassroot level.

“What we aim for in the National Clean Air Mission program is to address the problems of air pollution at the regional level keeping in mind the peculiarities of different regions” the Minister said in an event on 3rd International Day of Clean Air for blue skies, to raise awareness and facilitate actions to improve air quality under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).

“The solutions to this issue have to be socio– economic. In the National Clean Air Mission program, new startups should be promoted to work towards innovative solutions” said the Minister.  

Yadav also stressed that the government wants this innovation to become a movement. Therefore, the arrangement of funding in the program of NCAP has also been made on the basis that those who have good performance should also be rewarded.

The National Clean Air Programme aims at improving air quality by reducing Particulate Matter concentrations by 20-30% in 131 cities in the country.
It includes 123 Non-Attainment Cities (NAC) which exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for 5 consecutive years and 42 Million Plus Population Cities/Urban Agglomerations. 34 cities are common in both categories.

Speaking on the occasion,  Ashwini Kumar Choubey, MoS MoEFCC said that Swachh Pawan Neel Gagan  that has completed its three years needs to be passed on  to the future generations.

” The problem of air pollution is not only in our country but all over the world, he said. The world is now looking at India to see what our policy will be in this matter. Efforts need to be made on this issue from the ministry level to the panchayat level” he added.

Bhupender Yadav also released brochures on Capacity building and public outreach under NCAP with best practices in eight cities: Srinagar (All Hands on Board), Varanasi (Nothing goes to waste), Bengaluru (Clean Road, Clean City), Pune (The Right Drive), Hyderabad (The Green Way), Akola (Water Woes), Thootukudi (Treasure from Trash) and Lucknow (Under Control).

The United Nations General Assembly has designated 7th September as the “International Day of Clean Air for blue skies” with an aim to raise awareness and to promote actions to improve air quality.

This year, it raises awareness on the urgency of strengthening national action and regional collaboration to improve air quality, with the global theme of “The Air We Share”.