MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS (SHRI T. R. BAALU)
(a) & (b) A Network of Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (295) has been established in the major cities of the country, including the cities of Rajasthan. Ambient air quality data for the cities with population more than 1 million is given in the Annexure.
(c) The ambient air quality monitoring carried out during the years 2000 and 2001 in Jaipur indicated that there is no increase in air pollution levels. However, levels of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) and Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) are higher than the prescribed environmental norms, which may partially be due to the natural dusty conditions prevailing in this area. To combat the problem of air pollution from vehicular emissions, the Government of Rajasthan has prepared a multi-pronged action plan. The water pollution in the cities of Jaipur and Ajmer is mainly due to increase in the generation of sewage and its inadequate treatment.
(d) & (e) The Government have taken several measures to control vehicular pollution in the country , which include the following :
- Emission standards for on-road vehicles and mass emission standards for new vehicles have been notified under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and are enforced by the Transport Departments of the State Governments.
- Unleaded petrol is supplied in the entire country from 1.2.2000 and diesel with 0.25% sulphur maximum content is supplied from 1.1.2000 in the entire country. Low sulphur (0.05% maximum) fuel (petrol and diesel) has also been introduced in major cities.
- Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is supplied for automobiles through a number of retail outlets in Delhi and Mumbai to cater to the CNG vehicles.
- India 2000 norms akin to Euro I norms for registration of four wheeled private (non-commercial) vehicles were made effective from 1.6.1999 in National Capital Region (NCR) and on and after 1.4.2000 in the entire country for all categories of vehicles.
- Bharat Stage II norms akin to Euro-II norms for registration of four wheeled private (non-commercial) vehicles were made effective from 1.4.2000 in NCR, from 1.1.2001 in Mumbai (including Greater Mumbai) and from 1.7.2001 in Kolkata and Chennai.
- Bharat Stage II emission norms akin to Euro II norms for heavy vehicles have been made effective from 24.10.2001 in respect of National Capital Territory of Delhi, and in Mumbai (including Greater Mumbai), Kolkata and Chennai from 31.10.2001.
- Emission norms for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) driven vehicles have been made effective from 9.2.2000.
- Comprehensive emission norms for CNG driven vehicles including safety and procedural requirements for type approval of CNG and LPG operated vehicles were notified on 19.11.2001.
- Emission norms for Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) driven vehicles have been notified on 24.4.2001.
(f) Out of 249 complaints received during last two years, 119 have been disposed of till date.
ANNEXURE
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO PARTS (a) & (b) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3141 FOR ANSWERED ON 5-8-2002
Ambient air quality in Cities with Population more than 1 million
Rank in Urban Total Concentration of pollutants in
2000 Agglomeration/ Population 2001 in residential areas City (1 million + in 2001 (Ug/m3)(Annual average) Population) SPM RSPM NOx SO2
1. Greater Mumbai 16,368,084 243 81 25 12
2. Kolkata 13,216,546 239 102 66 16
3. Delhi 12,791,458 311 180 29 14
4. Chennai 6,424,624 82 66 11 7
5. Bangalore 5,686,844 106 87 26 11
6. Hyderabad 5,533,640 115 77 23 12
7 Ahmedabad 4,519,278 220 198 36 10
8. Pune 3,755,525 245 115 87 47
9. Surat 2,811,466 # - - -
10. Kanpur 2,690,486 570 202 16 18
11. Jaipur 2,324,319 320 134 32 11
12. Lucknow 2,266,933 341 173 31 13
13. Nagpur 2,122,965 277 83 19 10
14. Patna 1,707,429 356 - 15 13
15. Indore 1,639,044 290 $ 17 23
16. Vadodara 1,492,398 - 48 14 5
17. Bhopal 1,454,830 114 84 19 14
18. Coimbatore 1,446,034 - - - -
19. Ludhiana 1,395,053 - $ 31 11
20. Kochi 1,355,406 232 119 24 15
21. Visakhapatnam 1,329,472 194 93 28 15
22. Agra 1,321,410 345 # 13 11
23. Varanasi 1,211,749 428 96 12 11
24. Madurai 1,194,665 108 - 23 5
25. Meerut 1,167,399 - - - -
26. Nashik 1,152,048 202 72 21 27
27. Jabalpur 1,117,200 184 87 20 BDL
28. Jamshedpur 1,101,804 - - - -
29. Asansol 1,090,171 - - - -
30. Dhanbad 1,064,357 - - - -
31. Faridabad 1,054,981 334 - 16 23
32. Allahabad 1,049,579 - - - -
33. Amritsar 1,011,327 - - - -
34. Vijaywada 1,011,152 - - - -
35. Rajkot 1,002,160 - - - -
Total 107,881,836
Note :
“-“ = Data not available/ Monitoring not done/ Station not in operation.
“$†= Data to be verified.
# = Monitoring data as prepared by SPCB/NEERI/Universities under National ambient air quality monitoring programme.
BDL = Beyond detection level.
