Why in news?
National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has been launched.
What is NCAP?
- This is the first ever national framework for air quality management with a time-bound reduction target.
- The programme will not be notified under any Act.
- Salient features:
- To achieve a national-level target of 20-30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration between 2017 and 2024.
- Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will execute the programme in consonance with Air Act, 1981.
- The plan includes 102 non-attainment cities, across 23 states and Union territories, which were identified by CPCB on the basis of their ambient air quality data between 2011 and 2015.
- Non-attainment cities are those which have been consistently showing poorer air quality than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) like Delhi, Varanasi, Bhopal, Kolkata, Noida, Muzaffarpur, and Mumbai.
- The plan proposes a three-tier system, including real-time physical data collection, data archiving and an action trigger system in all 102 cities.
- The national plan has proposed setting up an apex committee headed by Minister of Environment and forests, a steering committee undersecretary (environment) and a monitoring committee under a joint secretary.
- There would be project monitoring committees at the state-level with scientists and trained personnel.
- It proposes
- Extensive plantation plans,
- Research on clean-technologies,
- Landscaping of major arterial roads,
- Stringent industrial standards,
- State-level plans of e-mobility in the two-wheeler sector,
- Rapid augmentation of charging infrastructure,
- Stringent implementation of BS-VI norms,
- Boosting public transportation system,
- Adoption of third-party audits for polluting industries
