Ghaziabad gets ₹15 crore for air quality improvement measures

Ghaziabad city has received ₹15 crore for air quality improvement this financial year

Ghaziabad city has received ₹15 crore for air quality improvement this financial year.

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The city is already listed among 16 non-attainment areas in Uttar Pradesh, suffering from high levels of pollution. It ranked as the second-most polluted city, after Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, in the World Air Quality Report-2021. The annual exercise, undertaken by Switzerland-based organisation IQAir, surveyed 6,475 cities across the world.

Cities are declared “non-attainment” if they do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter (PM10) or nitrogen dioxide (No2) over a period of five years.

“This year we have received ₹15 crore which is meant for air quality improvement. It is expected that this is one of the instalments and we are likely to receive more funds. We will chalk out plans and put them forward during the meetings before implementation,” said Mahendra Singh Tanwar, municipal-commissioner, Ghaziabad.

“Last year we lost some points due to high pollution levels in Loni. We raised objections and these were approved by the state government. The government has forwarded this further to the Centre. Hence, it should not hamper or reduce our funds this financial year,” Tanwar added.

According to officials of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), local pollution sources have been curbed to a large extent, while work is being done in terms of enforcement activities.

According to official data of the UPPCB, the average PM2.5 level of Ghaziabad was 211 µg/m³ in 2019-20, 228 µg/m³ in 2020-21, and 178 µg/m³in 2021-22 during the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) period from October 15 to February 15 of each year.

“There has been improvement in air quality in the city and more steps will be taken up with the fresh release of funds. Enforcement actions against polluters have also been strengthened,” said Utsav Sharma, regional officer, UPPCB.

Earlier in May, the sub-committee on GRAP directed different agencies to intensify dust control measures like mechanised road sweeping, enforcement of dust mitigation measures at construction and debris (C&D) sites, besides intensifying enforcement of emission norms in industrial units.

“The pollution situation improved last year due to a prolonged rainy spell, and completion of infrastructure projects like the Delhi Meerut Expressway. The traffic congestion also improved as farmers vacated the UP-Gate protest site and this led to smooth flow of traffic which earlier resulted in high pollution,” said Akash Vashishtha, a city-based environmentalist.

Rajendra Tyagi, councillor, Raj Nagar, said that funds for air quality improvement may have been reduced this year due to the pollution scenario.

“The city has not been able to do much in terms of pollution. Further, spending of funds and its use should be made public. People should know where the funds have been spent for improving air quality. The official figures may indicate some improvement, but independent monitoring is required. Reports of agencies like IQair tell us a different story,” Tyagi added.