By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, APRIL 19, 2018: THE MoS for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Dr Mahesh Sharma, today inaugurated the two-day Stakeholder Consultation on National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), in New Delhi. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Minister emphasized upon the need to translate the outcome of the deliberations, in the form of suggestions on the ground. In this regard, he stated that the NCAP is expected to play a crucial role in addressing the problem of increasing air pollution across the country, in a comprehensive manner. He underscored the impact of air pollution on health and general well-being of human, floral and faunal population and that stakeholders are and must act as 'givers' to the society.

Also speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mr C.K Mishra stated that while as a nation there was concern for the quality of air, as a Government the need was felt for commitment to ensure that there is a defined time-frame to be set. He added that all the states and stakeholders needed to spread the campaign for clean air across the country and also pointed out that technology was one of the critical elements of NCAP. 

The Stakeholder Consultation involves all the State Governments, since NCAP is a pan-India programme and inputs from states would be useful in evolving an effective implementation strategy.  The overall objective of the NCAP is comprehensive management plan for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution besides augmenting the air quality monitoring network across the country. The NCAP focuses on collaborative and participatory approach covering all sources of pollution and coordination between relevant Central Ministries, State Governments, local bodies and other stakeholders.

The NCAP focusses on intensive awareness, training and capacity-building drive, with specific impetus on augmentation of manpower and infrastructure facilities of CPCB and SPCB under the capacity building component of NCAP. Separate components with emphasis on three tier mechanism for review of monitoring, assessment and inspection for effective implementation under NCAP. A credible, transparent and accountable data collection and monitoring system that is available for timely swift action is to be ensured. Since air pollution mitigation necessitates collaborative efforts, the success of NCAP is expected to be determined by the participation and contribution of stakeholders. Accordingly, there is a need for consultation with various stakeholders viz. state governments, relevant ministries, institutes, academic institutions and industries.  The approved NCAP has already been shared with state governments and has also been uploaded on the Ministry's website for inviting comments from the public.

The key components of NCAP include city-specific air pollution abatement action plan for 100 polluting cities of the country similar to one for Delhi, increasing the number of monitoring stations, data dissemination, public participation on planning and implementation, setting up of Air Information Centre for data analysis, resource apportionment studies, setting up of national inventory, guidelines for indoor air pollution and setting up of rural monitoring stations. The MoEF&CC has formalized the NCAP as a long-term time bound national level strategy to tackle the increasing air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner. The total tentative cost of NCAP is estimated at Rs 637 crore.