Clean air survey: Delhi slips 25 places to rank 32nd

New Delhi, Sep 9 (PTI) Delhi slipped 25 places to rank 32nd among 48 cities and urban agglomerations with populations of more than 10 lakh, according to government rankings released on Tuesday that assessed efforts to improve the air quality.

This comes after a central panel directed authorities in Delhi and Noida, which are lagging in pollution control fund utilisation, to take immediate corrective measures.

In the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan rankings published on Tuesday, Delhi ranked 32nd among 48 cities and urban agglomerations assessed for their clean-air efforts. In 2024, the national capital had shared the seventh spot with Ahmedabad.

Indore ranked first among cities with a population of more than 10 lakh, followed by Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh). Agra (Uttar Pradesh) and Surat (Gujarat) shared the third position.

In the 3-10 lakh population category, Amravati (Maharashtra) secured the top rank, Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) and Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) were joint second, while Alwar (Rajasthan) stood third. Noida ranked ninth in this category, slipping from the sixth position in 2024.

Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan is an annual ranking initiative launched by the environment ministry under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). It evaluates cities and urban agglomerations based on their implementation of clean-air action plans and actual air-quality improvements, using a structured framework.

Meanwhile, the Implementation Committee (IC) under the NCAP has directed authorities in Delhi and Noida to take immediate steps to improve utilisation of pollution control funds.

At its 18th meeting on August 21, the committee said, "All implementing agencies must accelerate fund utilisation, ensuring that it is not below 75 per cent in any city." The minutes of the meeting were published recently.

Launched in 2019, the NCAP is India's first national initiative to set clean-air targets, aiming for a 40-per cent reduction in particulate pollution by 2026, using 2019-20 as the base year.

Of the cities covered under the NCAP, 82 receive direct funding from the Union environment ministry, while 48 cities and urban agglomerations with populations of more than 10 lakh are funded through the 15th Finance Commission.

Data from the environment ministry showed that only Rs 9,585 crore (72.4 per cent) of the total Rs 13,236.77 crore allocated to 130 cities since the programme's inception had been utilised as of August 18.

According to the data, Noida (Uttar Pradesh) utilised just 11.14 per cent of its allocation, Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) 30.51 per cent and Delhi 32.65 per cent. Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) spent 41.09 per cent, Jalandhar (Punjab) 43.51 per cent, Gulbarga (Karnataka) 43.7 per cent, Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) 44.12 per cent and Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) 44.24 per cent.

The fund utilisation of 12 other cities and urban agglomerations -- Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh), Gaya (Bihar), Sivasagar (Assam), Durgapur (West Bengal), Kalinga Nagar (Odisha), Nalbari (Assam), Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Faridabad (Haryana), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Hyderabad (Telangana) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) -- remained below 75 per cent.

The panel also directed the state pollution control boards and committees to complete source apportionment and emission inventory studies by October 15. So far, 79 cities have completed these studies. PTI GVS RC