Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi demanded inclusion of cities of his state in the list of ‘non attainment cities’ prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board.
At the state environment ministers’ conference here, he said three cities of Bihar – Patna, Muzaffarpur and Gaya – where PM 2.5 situation is worrisome, were included in the list of 10 most polluted cities in WHO’s latest report.
“Surprisingly no city of Bihar is included in Central Pollution Control Board’s ‘non attainment cities’ list. The cities of Bihar should be added to the list of non attainment cities,” Sushil Kumar Modi, who also holds the forest and environment portfolio, said.
Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan was present at the conference.
The Centre has formulated the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a medium term national-level strategy to tackle the problem of increasing air pollution across the country.
In February, Vardhan had said that his ministry hopes to bring down air pollution in around 100 non-attainment cities by 50 per cent in the next five years under the NCAP.
The non-attainment cities are areas which have air quality below the national ambient air quality standard. The NCAP, which proposes multiple strategies to combat air pollution, is estimated to cost Rs 637 crore.