Government says air pollution primarily urban phenomenon; experts disapprove

Of the 1,243 air quality monitoring stations covering 465 cities in the country, only 26 have been installed in rural areas — 24 in Punjab and two in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on an experimental basis.

August 05, 2022 02:09 pm | Updated 02:09 pm IST - New Delhi

Representational image only.

Representational image only. | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Air pollution is primarily an urban phenomenon and the government is focussing on monitoring ambient air quality in urban areas, Parliament has been informed.

Of the 1,243 air quality monitoring stations covering 465 cities in the country, only 26 have been installed in rural areas — 24 in Punjab and two in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on an experimental basis.

Explained | WHO’s air quality database and its latest update

"Air pollution is primarily an urban phenomenon. Therefore, the government is focussing on monitoring ambient air quality in urban areas," Union Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Kumar Choubey told Rajya Sabha on Thursday. In addition, the government has sanctioned 17 monitoring stations in rural areas of Himachal Pradesh (5), Kerala (2), Mizoram (5), Odisha (2), Tripura (1) and Uttar Pradesh (2), the Minister said.

However, experts say if the government doesn't monitor air pollution in rural areas, "it doesn't mean it doesn't exist". "Air pollution is a regional issue and all areas get affected. Industries, thermal power plants and brick kilns are set up near rural areas, solid fuel [wood and charcoal] is used in rural households," said Vivek Chattopadhyaya, Principal Programme Manager, Clean Air, at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

“The government’s air pollution management strategy needs to move beyond the city-centric approach and cover all areas. For example, improving air quality in Delhi alone doesn’t help if outer areas do not control air pollution properly,” he said.

Chandra Bhushan, CEO of International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology (iForest), said there is a lot of satellite data and studies that show air pollution is as big a problem in rural areas as in urban areas.

"A large part of rural India is now nearer to cities; a lot of industrial areas are actually in close proximity and biomass burning is common there." he said.

Sunil Dahiya, an analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, cited the example of poor air quality in the entire Indo-Gangetic plain to stress that air pollution "flows like a river" from Punjab to West Bengal and all areas get affected.

Explained | What the new Lancet report says about India’s pollution problem

"If air pollution is not monitored in rural areas, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist." He said the government should also put out pollution data received from industries set up in rural areas in the public domain to enhance the coverage.

All categories of polluting industries are required to install air quality monitors and data from them is submitted to respective State pollution control boards and the Central Pollution Control Board.  

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.