Mumbai dropped 18 places in the annual list of Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan Report even after receiving the largest funding from the Centre for improving the quality of air. The city dropped from the tenth place last year to the 28th place this year. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is the organization behind the study, which was published on September 7.
According to MoEFCC, the National Clean Air Programme's (NCAP) city action plan activities for improving air quality are implemented, and cities are ranked accordingly. Based on the total number of people residing in the cities, the report is divided into three groups. 47 cities with a population of more than 10 lakh are listed in the first category. In the second category, 43 cities with a population between 3 and 10 lakh are ranked, and in the third category, 40 cities with a population of less than 3 lakh are ranked.
Mumbai is included in the first group. In this particular category, Surat, Jabalpur, and Agra are the top three cities. Thane placed sixteenth in this category among other Maharashtra cities, ahead of Nagpur at 19th, Nashik at 23rd, and Pune at the 27th spot. Comparing the previous year, Thane came in third, Nagpur came in at 20th, Nashik came in at 23rd and Pune came in at the 31st position.
The report indicated that a self-assessment report and other materials provided by urban local bodies are the basis for the ranking evaluation. Measures to reduce the burning of municipal solid waste, strategies to reduce road dust, and the identification and remediation of different emission sources are some of the evaluation's parameters.
According to the MoEFCC, Mumbai Urban Agglomerate received the highest-ever award of Rs 929 crore from the Union ministry as part of the fifteenth finance commission for enhancing air quality between 2020 and 2023. Of this, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received Rs 620 crore, of which Rs 493 crore was designated for the purchase of electric buses in a wet-lease arrangement. Funding for industries related to road dust control and solid waste management has been sparse.
For the management of the Air Quality Index (AQI) during this period, Maharashtra received the largest financing from the 15th Finance Commission awards, totaling Rs 1,555 crore. Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat came in second and third, with Rs 1,449 crore and Rs 796 crore respectively.
