PM10 concentration in Dimapur, Kohima decrease, but still above ambient level

August 17, 2023 28 Views No Comment

Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 17

Dimapur and Kohima, the two cities in Nagaland placed under 131 non-attainment cities and Million Plus Cities with respect to particulate matter (PM10), have seen improvement in air quality ranging from 35-43%, recent data provided in the Rajya Sabha highlighted.

In 2019, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in January, 2019 with an aim to improve air quality in 131 cities (non-attainment cities and Million Plus Cities) in 24 States/UTs by engaging all stakeholders.

Among others, it envisaged to achieve targets of 20 to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024 in 131 cities with FY 2017-18 as the base year.

Subsequently, the target has been revised to achieve up to 40% reduction or achieve National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in terms PM concentrations by 2025-26.

As per the data provided the MoEFCC in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on August 10, the Average concentration of PM10 (μg/m3) in Dimapur, which stood at 142 in FY 2017-18, reduced to 91 in 2022-23.

This signifies a percentage improvement of 35.92 with respect to the base year.

Meanwhile, the State’s capital Kohima witnessed a better performance with average annual concentration of PM10 falling from 127 in the base year to 72 in 2022-23.

The percentage fall is 43.31%, one of the best improvement percentage-wise among the 131 non-attainment cities.

However, the annual PM10 concentrations in both Dimapur and Kohima are still above the NAAQS for air quality set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) which is PM10 (60 μg/m3).

The data provided by the Union MoEFCC Minister Bhupender Yadav informed that 15 cities have met NAAQS for PM10 (60 μg/m3) in FY 2022-23.

Again, a total of 90 cities out of 131 cities have shown improvement in air quality in terms of annual PM10 concentrations in FY 2022-23 with respect to the baseline of FY 2017-18, it highlighted.

Under the NCAP, cities are provided funds for implementing City Action Plans for taking measures to improve air quality as per the prescribed annual targets in respective cities.

On July 25, under the NCAP, Improvised Traffic Control System (ITCS) were launched at two crucial junctions in Dimapur – Holy Cross Traffic Point and Nagarjan Traffic Point.