NEW DELHI, Sept 9: Indore, Amravati and Dewas on Tuesday emerged as top performers in curbing air pollution under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
At an award event here, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said several cities have achieved significant progress despite being industrial hubs or having coal mines.
He announced that from next year, wards within cities will also be assessed for their air pollution control efforts, and released guidelines for this.
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Indore ranked first among cities with more than 10 lakh population, followed by Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh). Agra (Uttar Pradesh) and Surat (Gujarat) shared the third spot.
In the 3-10 lakh population category, Amravati (Maharashtra) stood first, Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) and Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) were joint second, while Alwar (Rajasthan) took the third position.
Among smaller cities with less than 3 lakh people, Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) bagged the top rank, followed by Parwanoo (Himachal Pradesh) and Angul (Odisha).
Yadav specially congratulated Angul for maintaining air quality standards despite the presence of coal mines.
He also awarded Indore and Udaipur for earning international recognition as wetland cities under the Ramsar Convention.
Yadav said the number of Ramsar sites in India has increased from 25 in 2014 to 91 in 2025.
“If forests are the lungs, lakes act as kidneys,” he said.
“A holistic and integrated approach is needed to fight air pollution. We must embrace recycling, reuse and the circular economy,” Yadav added.
He urged other cities to emulate Indore and added, “If your city’s air is bad, it will enter your lungs. Make efforts to save your cities.”
The minister announced a target of planting 75 crore saplings between September 17 and October 2.
Environment Secretary Tanmay Kumar said 64 of the 130 cities covered under NCAP have reduced PM10 levels by 20 per cent or more compared to 2017-18, while 25 cities have achieved a reduction of 40 per cent or more.
Launched in 2019, NCAP is the country’s first national initiative to set clean air targets, aiming at a 40 per cent cut in particulate pollution by 2026 using 2017-18 as the base year. (PTI)
