SHIMLA: Sundernagar and Nalagarh have made it “big” this time: They have bagged second and third rank “Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2022 Awards on Sunday in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.
These two towns, in fact, figure among 131 non-attainment cities (NAC) or towns across India, whose air quality remains poor and polluted and hence unhealthy for its residents.
Sundernagar and Nalagarh got Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2022 award under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) of Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC). NCAP covers these 131 NACs in India.
As soon as the awards were announced, the self-praising state pollution regulator was swift enough to pat his own back for bettering the air quality index (AQI) of Himachal Pradesh and for the cash awards.
AQI of Himachal is ranked at 61 during 2021-22, which was at 81 in 2017.
But the facts on the ground present a different story. Himachal’s AQI moved up the ladder mainly due to three prime reasons.
It was not squarely due to any major interventions or extra efforts that the state pollution board is boasting off.
First and foremost is this: Emission of dust from road, mining and demolition and road construction, vehicular pollution was lowest in 2020-21 due to Corona Pandemic.
There were lockdowns. There was a 95 per cent drop in vehicular movement, including tourist vehicles in Himachal Pradesh in 2020-2021.
There was no major road, house and project construction and other dust-raising activities in the mountains. These and other restrictions were norms necessitated by Corona Pandemic.
The skies over the Himalaya and its towns were the cleanest. They continued to be so till 2021-22.
Even a commoner in these towns and cities visualised clean skies and breathed in clean air from 2020-21.
But one is surprised as to why the state member- secretary of the state pollution regulator or for that matter MOEF&CC lost sight of this big broad day light reality on the ground.
This big reduction in dust emission, in fact, had come as a big savour for people of Himalayan state. It was true for the residents of Sundernagar and Nalagarh as well.
Second thing is that road dust and vehicular pollution, which are the major culprit of air pollution in Sundernagar and Nalagarh has reduced drastically over the past five years.
It is so because the four-lane project near Sundernagar is complete. This has resulted in cessation of road dust in this town automatically.
Brick kilns, another source of air pollution in Balh-Sundernagar, have been shut down by the owners. So is the case with the stone crushers in the area.
Third, Corona pandemic threatens Humans. It also taught lesson, advising us to adopt “sustainable production and sustainable consumption”.
Besides this, Nature has bas been benevolent for the hills and forest in these years. There have been frequent rains in 2020-2022 that clean air from dust and suspended Particulate matter, say the environment experts.
Like most cities and towns, Sundernagar and Nalagarh have also recorded a reduction of 40% PM10 in the ambient air in this towns in 2021-22. PM10 (particulate matter) is the main culprit in polluting the air quality.
These are prime factors that cleaned skiers above Sundarnagar and Nalagarh towns.
Member-secretary state pollution control Board Apoorv Devgan claims in the media release issued today are at best “exaggerated” and at worst, these are “ludicrous”.
Devgan claimed, “Improvement in air quality in the state is not limited to NAC. But overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of the state has also improved from 81 during the base year 2017 to 61 during 2021-22”.
He sounds more 'hilarious' by taking sole credit for the state pollution board. The air-monitoring display board in the office of the board has been out of order for the last two years!
He makes a sweeping statement, “This is attributed to effective enforcement of pollution control and environmental laws by the State Board across the state”.
But the good this is that these two Himachal towns have got a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh and Rs 12.50 lakh respectively for “improving air quality in these towns”.
In fact, there are nine non-attainment towns, which were awarded for reducing carbon footprints.
Prof. Ganeshi Lal, Governor of Odisha and Bhupendra Yadav, Union Minister, Environment awarded the cash prizes today in an International Conference Vayu held at Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Addressing the international conference, Bhupender Yadav said the Prime Minister Narender Modi has given mantra of “sustainable production and sustainable consumption for tacking climate change in India.
Yadav urged scientific community and youth to join hands to reduce air pollution and carbon footprints and checking production of waste, the main polluter in towns. “We must convert waste into wealth by adopting innovative technology to make towns livable for its residents”, he said.
Citing his claims, Devgan said they upgraded the air monitoring capability in all the NAC, reviewed its action plan by the Air Quality Monitoring Committee (AQMC) and city committee and succeeded in reduction of more than 40% PM10 concentration in the ambient environment”.
He said he hoped seven other towns would come out of NAC.
Dr Manoj Chauhan, Chief Scientific Officer of Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board received the award on behalf of Himachal Pradesh.
