As per the Sameer app, Mumbai’s Air Quality Index (AQI) on Sunday stands at 115, which falls under the moderate category. This level of air pollution may cause breathing discomfort for people with lung conditions, asthma, or heart diseases
Mumbai’s Air Quality Index (AQI) on Sunday stands at 115. File Pic
The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 31 degrees Celsius and 17 degrees Celsius, respectively, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
As per the Sameer app, Mumbai’s Air Quality Index (AQI) on Sunday stands at 115, which falls under the moderate category. This level of air pollution may cause breathing discomfort for people with lung conditions, asthma, or heart diseases.
AQI across Mumbai
Bandra Kurla Complex: 144
Borivali East: 132
Byculla: 95
Andheri: 138
Chembur: 105
Colaba: 99
Deonar: 128
Ghatkopar: 121
Air quality a nationwide crisis, govt response exceedingly ineffective: Congress
The Congress on Sunday cited a report to claim that air quality in India is a nationwide, structural crisis and that the government’s response has been “exceedingly ineffective and inadequate.” The party demanded a thorough reform of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), according to the news agency PTI.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said that the NCAP, propagated as the National Clean Air Programme, is actually another kind of NCAP — a “Notional Clean Air Programme.”
The former environment minister said a new analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has confirmed what he described as India’s “worst-kept secret”: that air quality is a nationwide, structural crisis for which the government response has been exceedingly ineffective and inadequate, reported PTI.
Using satellite data, the study found that nearly 44 per cent of Indian cities — 1,787 out of 4,041 statutory towns assessed — suffer from chronic air pollution, with annual PM2.5 levels consistently exceeding national standards over five years (2019–2024, excluding 2020), Ramesh said in a statement.
Pointing out that the report also highlighted the ineffectiveness of the NCAP, the Congress leader said that despite the scale of the problem involving 1,787 towns, only 130 cities are covered under the programme.
Of these 130 cities, 28 still lack continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS), he claimed.
Among the 102 cities with monitoring infrastructure, 100 reported PM10 levels of 80 per cent or higher, Ramesh said, adding that in total, the NCAP currently addresses only 4 per cent of India’s chronically polluted cities.
Reiterating his criticism, Ramesh said the NCAP, propagated as the National Clean Air Programme, is in reality a “Notional Clean Air Programme” and asserted that it needs a thorough overhaul and reform.
“The first step must be to acknowledge the public health crisis linked to air pollution across wide swathes of India. Consequently, we must revisit and completely revamp both the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) put into effect in November 2009,” he said, reported PTI.
Ramesh urged the government to drastically increase funding under the NCAP.
“The current budget, inclusive of NCAP funding and the 15th Finance Commission’s grants, is about Rs 10,500 crore, spread across 131 cities. Our cities need at least 10 to 20 times more funding. NCAP must be made a Rs 25,000 crore programme and expanded to cover the 1,000 most polluted towns in the country,” he said.
He further said the NCAP must adopt PM2.5 levels as the primary yardstick for performance and reorient its focus towards key emission sources such as the burning of solid fuels, vehicular emissions, and industrial pollution.
“The NCAP must be given legal backing, an enforcement mechanism, and serious data-monitoring capacity for every Indian city, beyond the current focus only on ‘non-attainment’ cities,” Ramesh argued.
He also asserted that air pollution norms for coal-fired power plants must be enforced immediately and that all power plants must install flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) units by the end of 2026.
“The National Green Tribunal’s independence must be restored, and the anti-people environmental law amendments of the last 10 years must be rolled back,” Ramesh said.
“Twice in Parliament — first on July 29, 2024, and then on December 9, 2025 — the Modi government has attempted to downplay the health impact of air pollution. The Modi government is not blind to the truth; it is only attempting to cover up the scale of its incompetence and negligence,” he alleged.
(With PTI inputs)
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