Air pollution level improved in 77 cities since 2017, shows study
Delhi recorded the highest annual (FY 24-25) PM10 concentration at 206 micrograms per cubic metres among NCAP cities, followed by Byrnihat (in Meghalaya) at 200 micrograms per cubic metres
New Delhi: Under the National Clean Air Programme, air pollution levels improved in 77 cities but increased in 23 others, a new analysis has found.
Compared to baseline year of 2017-18, PM10 (coarse pollution particles; with a diameter of 10 micron) levels increased in 23 cities, remained unchanged in two and improved in 77 cities, an analysis by Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has found.
It also found that out of 130 cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), 28 still do not have Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS), indicating critical gaps in real-time air quality monitoring infrastructure.
PM10 data from the remaining 102 cities with CAAQMS was analysed for the period April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025 (FY 24-25) by the CREA team.
Delhi recorded the highest annual (FY 24-25) PM10 concentration at 206 micrograms per cubic metres among NCAP cities, followed by Byrnihat (in Meghalaya) at 200 micrograms per cubic metres, and Patna at 180 micrograms per cubic metres--each over three times higher than the national standard of 60 micrograms per cubic metres, the analysis added. Compared to the previous year (FY 23-24), PM10 levels decreased in 69 NCAP cities while 33 saw an increase.
Since 2017-18, 10 cities in Uttar Pradesh recorded an over 40% reduction in PM10 levels compared to the baseline year, followed by two cities each in Uttarakhand and Punjab. One city each from Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Maharashtra, and West Bengal also achieved an over 40% reduction. Odisha and Maharashtra had the highest number of cities with increased PM10 levels. Assam reported four such cities, Madhya Pradesh , three, and Bihar, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh , two cities each.
“A few Indian cities have shown notable improvement in reducing PM 10 levels, but the majority remain far from meeting the NCAP targets, and with just one year to the deadline. Despite some progress, 91 of the 102 NCAP cities with CAAQMS data still continued to exceed the lenient national annual PM10 standard during FY 2024–25,” said Manoj Kumar, Analyst at CREA.
‘In recent years, NCAP assessments have typically used integrated data from Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS) and National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) networks by averaging values from both systems to evaluate air quality trends. However, this approach risks misrepresenting PM10 levels, as the two systems vary significantly in measurement technique and frequency. To ensure accuracy and avoid underestimation or overestimation, it is important to assess trends using CAAQMS and NAMP data separately,” he added.
The union environment ministry launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in January, 2019 with an aim to improve air quality in 131 cities in 24 States/UTs by engaging all stakeholders. The programme envisages reductions up to 40% or achievement of National Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM 10 concentrations by 2025-26.
Road dust mitigation has been the primary focus of the NCAP with much lower funding for combustion sources that emit pollutants, a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) assessment said last year.
Of the money spent, 64% ( ₹10,566 crore) has gone into road paving, widening, pothole repair, water sprinkling, mechanical sweepers, etc. Only 14.51% has been used for controlling biomass burning, 12.63% for reducing vehicular pollution and a mere 0.61% for controlling industrial pollution.
NCAP was originally planned to tackle both PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in the 131 non-attainment cities or cities that consistently fail to meet the standard. In practice, only PM10 concentration has been considered for performance assessment. PM2.5, the more harmful pollutant , emitted largely from combustion sources, has been neglected, CSE found.