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Planners need to keep pace with changes: Kerala Chief Secretary

) In a scenario where changes are happening so fast civic planners need to be agile and keep pace with the changes and come out with sustainable solutions to address multiple challenges, said Ms Sarada Muraleedharan, Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala, here on Saturday. She was addressing the valedictory session of the 73rd National Town and Country Planners Conference, organised by the Institute of Town Planners, India (ITPI), with the support of the Local Self Government Department here. The idea of planning needs to move beyond concepts to come to grip with real issues and formulate responses that work on the ground, she said, referring to multiple issues being faced by Kerala society including the waste management. While there is no dearth of master plans that seek to address each critical issue their real test is how effective they are on the ground, she said. She also distributed the National Best Thesis awards instituted by ITPI for post-graduate, under graduate and female students on the occasion. ITPI president N K Patel, Rajesh PN, Chairman ITPI, Kerala Regional Chapter, Pradeep Kapoor, Coordinator (Techno Admin) ITPI, and Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Vice President ITPI also spoke. The meet, whose focal theme was “Intelligent, Digital Spatial Planning and Governance’, covered a range of live topics relating to urban and country development including technological advancements. Meanwhile, in a technical session on ‘Blue-Green Economy for Resilient Future,’ experts noted that extreme heat affects productivity imposes stress on urban infrastructure and they called for adopting a climate-sensitive urban design for the country and ramping up the heat management policy. Rajneesh Sareen, Programme Director, Sustainable Habitat Programme, CSE, New Delhi, said Indian cities should adopt heatresilient urban planning and design, integrating green-blue infrastructure and nature-based solutions. Ms Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, CSE, New Delhi; Dr Banhi, Chakraborty, Ex-Faculty, Dept. of Architecture and Planning, IIT Kharagpur; and Dr Reshma Vilasan, Assistant Professor, Nitte School of Architecture, Planning & Design, Bengaluru, also spoke. In another session on ‘Techno-Urbanism,’ VK Paul, Director, School of Planning and Architecture, said it’s the responsibility of the planners to use all the spatial data available to rejuvenate public spaces through designs that comply with human sensibilities. N Sridharan, Former Director, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, planners should address the issue of digital divide across socio economic classes, ages, sex and region while designing spatial governance. KV Abdul Malik, Chief Town planner (Vigilance), Kerala, said data analysis is important for planning. VK Phatak, Former Principal Chief, (Planning Division), MMRDA and Dean Faculty of Planning, CEPT, also attended. In a session on ‘Local Democracy and Spatial Planning in Kerala,’ S M Vijayanand, Former Chief Secretary and Chairperson, Sixth State Finance Commission, Govt. of Kerala, said it is important to strive for a spatial planning where every citizen has the ‘right to city’. Ms Shiji E Chandran, Chief Town Planner, LSGD (Planning), Govt. of Kerala; Jacob Easow, Former Additional Chief Town Planner, Kerala;

DeBriefed 10 January 2025: Los Angeles burns; Trump tilts at ‘windmills’; What cricket chirps reveal about rainforest change

This week California burning ‘MOST DESTRUCTIVE’: At least 10 people have been killed and more than 9,000 buildings have been gutted in wildfires “scorching communities” across Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported in its latest update on Friday. There are multiple fires burning across LA county, including the 15,800-acre Palisades fire that CNN described as the “most destructive fire in LA history”. ​​ INFERNAL LA: LA’s firefighters are struggling with water supplies and are “unaccustomed to fighting multiple blazes at once”, BBC News reported. “There are not enough firefighters in all of LA County to address four separate fires of this magnitude,” LA county fire chief Anthony Marrone told the outlet. The Los Angeles Times said the fires have already caused at least $50bn in losses, which could also threaten hundreds of thousands of Californians who already struggle to “find and keep affordable homeowners insurance”. TINDERBOX CLIMATE: Many outlets examined the climate “drivers” of the wildfires. The Washington Post said the flames were fanned by a “life-threatening and destructive” windstorm. BBC News said that California’s decade-long drought and a four-inch decline in LA’s annual rainfall had left the region dry and so “particularly vulnerable” to the spread of fires. The Guardian cited research finding that climate change has caused a 172% increase in California’s burned area since the 1970s. Hello, goodbye CAN’T TOUCH THIS: US president Joe Biden announced a “permanent stop” to new oil and gas drilling across more than 625m acres of US coastal waters, thus protecting 20% of the seabed, the New York Times reported. While Biden called the move a “climate imperative”, the Guardian pointed out that the law does not explicitly allow presidents to “unilaterally reverse a drilling ban without going through Congress”. Alaska, meanwhile, sued the Biden administration over oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic, Reuters said. TILTING AT WINDMILLS: In a “lengthy tirade against windpower”, US president-elect Donald Trump pledged that no wind farms will be constructed during his second term, threatening billions of dollars in planned projects, Bloomberg reported. Earlier in the week, Trump criticised the UK government’s energy policy, with a call to “open up” North Sea oil and gas production and “get rid of windmills”, Reuters reported. HYDROGEN BREAK: After “months of intense lobbying”, the Biden administration finalised rules that “offer billions of dollars in tax credits to companies that make hydrogen”, the New York Times reported. The rules include relaxed criteria for the “struggling sector” to claim tax credits, the Financial Times wrote. Around the world RECORD HEAT: Multiple climate datasets have confirmed that 2024 was Earth’s hottest year on record, with temperatures breaching 1.5C above pre-industrial levels for the first time, BBC News reported. Carbon Brief has all the details in its latest state of the climate” quarterly update. ADIEU, TRUDEAU: Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as Canada’s prime minister on Monday, ending a near-decade “of [the country’s] most climate-conscious federal government”, but with a “physically enduring legacy” of oil pipeline expansions, the Narwhal reported. MECCA FLOODS: Torrential, unseasonal rain lashed cities in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, with the holy city of Mecca facing the “worst floods”, Down to Earth reported. WATER WOES: Last year, water-related disasters claimed more than 8,700 lives, drove 40 million people from their homes and caused $550bn in economic damage, according to the 2024 Global Water Monitor report covered by the Guardian. TAPS TURNED: Climate-induced sea level rise will “overwhelm” many of the world’s biggest oil ports, including Houston, Rotterdam and Ras Tanura, according to new analysis by cryosphere scientists who described the threat as “ironic”, the Guardian said. BANKS BOUNCED: Bloomberg reported that there are “zero” big Wall Street banks left in the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, after the biggest US bank JP Morgan quit the UN-backed climate coalition weeks before Trump assumed office. 10 days The time it took for the world’s richest 1% to “burn through” their 2025 “share” of the global “carbon budget” for keeping warming under 1.5C, according to new Oxfam analysis. Latest climate research Arctic marine heatwaves could intensify “on orders of magnitude” during the rest of this century under climate change, posing “major challenges for Arctic ecosystems”, according to new Nature Climate Change research using high-resolution climate models. A new study in Science estimated that building materials used in new construction could potentially store 16bn tonnes of CO2 every year. New research in Nature Cities found that high-income city dwellers in China were more likely to “order in” food during heatwaves, revealing the “transfer of heat exposure from consumers to delivery riders.” (For more, see Carbon Brief’s in-depth daily summaries of the top climate news stories on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.) Captured The map above uses squares to illustrate 1,682 studies where communities are taking on-ground measures to adapt to climate change, from the islands of Tuvalu to the high mountains of Nepal. These studies were collated as part of the most comprehensive assessment to date of the scientific literature on climate adaptation. Carbon Brief has produced an interactive article based on the database that pulls out some of the key findings and explores global trends. The map above uses squares to illustrate 1,682 studies where communities are taking on-ground measures to adapt to climate change, from the islands of Tuvalu to the high mountains of Nepal. These studies were collated as part of the most comprehensive assessment to date of the scientific literature on climate adaptation. Carbon Brief has produced an interactive article based on the database that pulls out some of the key findings and explores global trends. Spotlight What listening to crickets reveals about rainforest change This week, Carbon Brief speaks to scientists studying what sounds from wildlife can reveal about change in an Indian rainforest. On Christmas night in Coorg (Kodagu) – prime coffee country in India’s Western Ghats biosphere – the rainforest was anything but silent. The night air – though drier than it should be this time of year – was charged with an electric score of cricks, chirps, trills, hisses, croaks, whoops and whistles. The Western Ghats is one of the “hottest hotspots” of biodiversity on Earth, hosting 325 globally threatened species. Coorg, on its eastern slopes, is a micro hotspot that receives more than 4000mm of rainfall on average and is the source of the Kaveri river, whose waters are bitterly disputed among the south Indian states seeing increasingly hotter summers and devastating floods. A short climb reveals physical scars of extreme weather: beyond thick canopies are hilltops bearing gashes from devastating landslides in 2018 that killed 20 people and displaced 18,000. To understand the less-visible impacts of climate and land-use change on non-human species in Coorg’s dense forests and plantations, sound has emerged as an important tool. Biodiversity symphony Bio-acoustics is the science of sounds produced by biological systems and what they react to. Prof Rohini Balakrishnan at the Indian Institute of Science described her work as a “bridge between symphony, cacophony and silence” and said that there are “signatures” of land degradation in sound that photographs cannot capture. She told Carbon Brief: “When we first came to the Western Ghats 20 years ago to try and actually figure out an entire acoustic community, most people thought we were completely crazy, because nobody had tried anything at that scale.” Those first years, she said, were “very, very hard” on her team, involving months of fieldwork in forests “full of poisonous snakes, gaur (Indian bison) and some density” of elephants. A hillside in Coorg (Kodagu) in southwest India. Credit: Aruna Chandrasekhar, Carbon Brief A hillside in Coorg (Kodagu) in southwest India. Credit: Aruna Chandrasekhar, Carbon Brief The “tech part”, however, has become significantly easier since, with machine learning and algorithmic approaches being trained to look at an entire soundscape and, possibly, to decide if a landscape is degrading. Balakrishnan said: “When we started, all we had were those little Sony Walkmans and bat detectors. There were no recorders that you could programme and leave outdoors. So it was painful: follow an insect, get a recording. You had to be there doing the recording.” For Dr Vijay Ramesh, a postdoctoral scientist at the K Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at Cornell University in New York state, an ongoing question is whether biodiversity can fully return to degraded landscapes that are being actively restored. Acoustics have played an essential role in helping answer that question, with soundscapes failing to detect insects in many restored sites. “I don’t think we would have got that particular understanding of insects without using audio recorders, because these are all high frequencies we cannot hear,” Ramesh told Carbon Brief. Cutting through noise With so many species calling at the same time, isolating individual sounds in a complex noise environment can be a challenge. To Balakrishnan, the rainforest can sound like a Christmas party where “everybody’s screaming and you’re interested in one conversation, one person”. Rohini and her team spent 15 years working on the “cocktail-party effect”, eventually finding that “what sounds to us like a cacophony actually can be close to silence for an insect”. Anthropogenic sound often shows up in recordings: sirens still go off at dawn to signal the start of a morning shift for tea plantation workers. Pouring rain can serve as a major “masker” of sound. While evidence of climate change’s impacts “still needs more long-term monitoring”, Rohini worries about humanity’s ability to “ignore planetary alarm bells”. She concluded: “[M]echanised noise, traffic or construction…we sort of learn to filter them out, or we live in these artificial worlds we create by putting on headphones. And I feel, in the end, it takes away your ability to listen to your surroundings and to be influenced by it. “Listening really is a survival skill for our species, but it also gives joy, and I think we are losing that ability to focus on sounds around us and think and ask: ‘What does that mean?’” Watch, read, listen BLACK MARKET: Context News interviewed Nigeria’s illegal oil refiners risking everything to meet their energy needs amid soaring fuel prices in the country. POLYCRISIS NOW: Tim Sahay spoke to the Centre for Science and Environment about what to expect from climate policy in 2025 as the global “polycrisis” unfolds. OFF THE CHARTS: A long read in the Atlantic examined how “extreme events are taking scientists by surprise” and “outpacing” the predictions of even the “best” climate models.

Climate Change and Indian Youth

Climate Change and Indian Youth Large developing countries like India are heavily impacted by climate change. Living in India, I have firsthand experience of this. As a youth living in Delhi, I have experienced air pollution affecting my health, leading to asthma and changes in climate conditions affecting my overall quality of life. In the summer of 2024, the Delhi government in India announced the closure of schools and started holidays earlier than normal in order to avoid the growing heatwaves. In the winter of 2024, schools had to be shut down and adopt a hybrid model of teaching in the wake of the deteriorating air quality. In a survey conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment, 94% of Indian youth opined that their life has been impacted by climate change. Among the 1,931 youth who participated in the survey, 88 percent noted changes in their physical surroundings. Many highlighted issues ranging from disruption in education to school closures, less productivity, and outdoor activities affecting physical and mental health. These findings are important given the fact that India has the world's largest youth population, and their perspectives are important in our climate story. At the same time, I am also witnessing the climate discourse taking place in the country.

82 cities used less than 66% of NCAP funds in the last 5 years to combat pollution

If you’ve ever lived in north India during the winter and struggled to breathe, you’re likely familiar with the acronym NCAP – the National Clean Air Programme. Launched by the environment ministry, it sets clear air targets for 131 cities that are required to reduce particulate concentration in the air. The deadline to achieve 40 percent reduction is 2025-26. Eighty-two cities get funds for this directly under NCAP. The remaining – 42 cities and seven ‘urban agglomerations’ – get funds under the 15th Finance Commission. From 2019 to May this year, all 131 cities were allocated a total of Rs 10,566 crore through both sources. Newslaundry learned that the 82 cities funded by NCAP used Rs 1,092 crore out of the Rs 1,615.47 crore released in the last five years – about 66 percent. The cities of Delhi-NCR, where the AQI reached an astonishing 481 last month, used less than 40 percent. Only 55 cities out of 131 managed to reduce their PM10 concentration in the air by at least 20 percent. Delhi managed a reduction of just 14 percent. Underutilisation, misallocation In October, the NCAP implementation committee held a meeting online. According to the minutes of the meeting, 68 cities did not utilise 75 percent of the funds allocated to them. Noida, for example, used 11 percent of its total allocation of Rs 30.89 crore. Visakhapatnam used 14 percent and Anantpur 20 percent. Among metro cities, Bengaluru’s utilisation was lowest at 30 percent followed by Delhi (31 percent) and Pune (46 percent). Delhi also lay at the bottom of the table when it came to utilisation of funds by states and union territories. Only Gujarat utilised 100 percent of its funds, followed by Odisha at 93.55 percent and Chhattisgarh at 92.8 percent. Delhi shared space with Jammu & Kashmir (40 percent) and Meghalaya (44 percent). According to minutes of a meeting in September by the NCAP apex committee, 67 percent of funds is spent on dust mitigation measures like repairing roads, installing pavements, improving traffic junctions, sprinkling water, and mechanised sweeping of roads. As for other pollutants – 14 percent is spent on vehicular pollution, 11 percent on solid waste management and biomass burning, four percent on capacity building and monitoring, two percent on construction and demolition waste, and one percent each on industrial pollution, public outreach, and domestic fuel. But why the focus on dust mitigation over all else? The environment ministry said in August that this is because studies “indicate that dust from road, construction and demolition activities contribute maximum to the PM10 level in the cities”. Hence cities had “prioritised their actions based on the sources of pollution”. However, this should be taken in context of the fact that NCAP funding is based on performance, and performance is assessed on the basis of improvements in ambient PM10 levels. Earlier this year, a study by the Centre for Science and Environment pointed out that this deviates focus from PM2.5 pollution, which Indian Express described as “more lethal”. This point – on spending less on other vital components – was raised in the meeting of the NCAP implementation committee. According to the minutes, participants discussed 21 “irrelevant” activities that were funded despite having little or no direct connection with improving air quality. These included installing streetlights, beautification protocols, installing CCTV cameras at dumping sites, buying computers and software, and paying electricity bills at construction and destruction waste plants. Another curious point is that while NCAP seems to focus on PM10 levels to assess a city’s performance, it also ranks cities under a programme called Swachh Vayu Survekshan based on policy measures implemented to reduce air pollution. The study by the Centre for Science and Environment found that the two rankings don’t often correspond. For example, a city that scores under the Swachh Vayu Survekshan might perform very poorly for not improving PM10 levels. Anumita Roy Choudhury, the author of the study, told Newslaundry this needs to be addressed. “In the case of Delhi, its ranking is poor in terms of PM10 reduction. But its ranking under SVS is in the top nine. So there’s a huge gap between action taken and reduction of PM10. This gap needs to be addressed,” she said. Goals met? Not quite But here’s what the nation really wants to know. Even as a focus on PM10 is not quite effective, is the spending to bring down PM10 achieving its goal? Let’s take Delhi, which utilised 32 percent of Rs 42.69 crore released under NCAP over five years. This money was predominantly spent to procure 14 mechanical road sweepers, 28 water sprinklers, smog guns, and two pothole repair machines. The procurement of the sweepers and repair machines are still “in progress”. But the major source of PM10 pollution in Delhi is industrial, which is coal and fly ash, contributing to 37 percent of pollution in summer and 12 percent of pollution in winter. Biomass and waste burning contributes 25.43 percent, and road dust and construction soil 30 percent. Transport, in winter, contributes to 19 percent of PM10 pollution. (It should be noted that NCAP funds are intended to be spent for an entire year; not every city gives the breakup of pollution based on season.) Yet there seems to have been no spending by Delhi, across winter and summer under the fund, to mitigate industrial pollution. Next, take Navi Mumbai, also funded under the NCAP. Allocated Rs 9.42 crore over five years, it spent 92 percent of its funds on categories like mechanised road sweeping, water sprinkling, creating ‘green belts’, procuring e-buses, and public awareness – spending that predominantly targets dust and vehicles. Meanwhile, the environment ministry says Navi Mumbai’s PM10 pollution is due to road dust (28 percent), transport (16 percent), industry (16 percent), coal and fly ash (12 percent), waste burning (15 percent), and secondary aerosol (13 percent). And Navi Mumbai’s performance in reducing PM10 concentration is abysmal; in fact, the annual average PM10 concentration increased from 88 in 2017-18 to 98 in 2023-24. (Note that some cities, like Delhi, do not categorise coal/fly ash in a category separate from industrial pollution.) We also looked at Ludhiana, which utilised 90 percent of Rs 97.75 crore allocated under the NCAP. Most of this was spent on constructing end-to-end pavements on 114 km of roads, setting up green urban spaces, mechanised road sweeping, water sprinkling, collecting construction and destruction waste, and anti-smog guns. Here, more than 30 percent of PM10 concentration is caused by industrial pollution, across seasons. Ludhiana only managed to reduce its PM10 concentration by four percent. Baddi in Himachal Pradesh, which recorded “very poor” AQI in November, spent its NCAP funds on two things: constructing pucca roads and installing a Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System. It’s worth noting that 21-22 percent of its PM10 concentration is contributed by industry. Cities like Gwalior and Bhopal, where road dust accounts for a significant portion of PM10 emissions – 88 percent and 60 percent, respectively – failed to make substantial progress in reducing PM10 levels. PM10 concentration in Gwalior increased from 126 in 2017-18 to 136 in 2023-24; Bhopal’s increased from 112 to 113 in the same period. Gwalior spent Rs 82 crore of NCAP funds and Bhopal Rs 180 crore, but they’re at the bottom in terms of reducing PM10. Instead, both cities prioritised spending on road paving, building footpaths, municipal waste processing plants, construction and demolition processing plants, parks, urban forests, public awareness, and installing e-vehicle charging points.

100 km of Roads That Kick Up Dust to Be Paved in Gurgaon, Faridabad

Around 100km of roads in Gurgaon and Faridabad, along with 50km in Sonipat, will be identified and marked for end-to-end paving as part of a clean air initiative. This drive will start from April 1. Rao Narbir Singh, the minister for environment, forests, and wildlife, said the project would focus o.. Read more at: https://www.constructionworld.in/transport-infrastructure/highways-and-roads-infrastructure/100-km-of-roads-that-kick-up-dust-to-be-paved-in-gurgaon-faridabad/67407

No One May Survive’: India’s Inability to Clean Up Its Coal-Fired Power Plants is Poisoning People’s Health

Harinder Singh lies on a charpai in a small room with no windows, coughing and struggling for breath. The 64 year old gets up, wraps a shawl around himself and ventures out, ruing the day he was born in Uncha Amirpur, a village of 3,264 people located in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, just 48 kilometers from the country’s national capital. Singh has been battling liver cancer for the last two years. He blames the nearby thermal power station for his condition. "I have only a few months left to live,” Singh told Asian Dispatch. “Taking every breath feels like a struggle here and I can’t escape it.” Singh’s single storey two-room house is merely 300 meters away from one of India’s largest coal and gas-fired thermal power plants. It is run by the government-owned National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), India’s largest integrated power company that claims to light every fourth bulb in the South Asian nation. Thick black smoke, full of toxic pollutants, constantly billows out of its chimneys. “It’s not just the cancer that’s killing me but the toxic air that’s slowly stealing away whatever hope I had left," he said. Singh used to work as a truck driver and is the lone breadwinner for his family comprising his wife and two children. Seven years ago, he stopped working after his body started trembling and his eyes turned yellow due to Hepatitis C. Every 10 days, he visits a hospital, which is almost four kilometers away, to have fluids removed from his abdomen. “I don’t know who will take care of my wife and kids after my death," said Singh with tears in his eyes. "I have only a few months left to live. Taking every breath feels like a struggle here and I can’t escape it.” – Harinder Singh, a resident of Uncha Amirpur village, some 48 kms from Indian capital, New Delhi. Photo: Suhail Bhat The cost of power There are 285 thermal power plants like the one in Uncha Amirpur across India, the world’s second highest in number next to only China, which has 1,161 coal-fired power plants. Unlike China’s momentous energy transition journey, India presents a complex picture, where the possibility of a coal phase-out is pitted against its booming population’s power needs. Seventy-five percent of India’s power comes from its thermal utilities. These, in turn, account for 80 percent of industrial emissions of sulphur- and nitrous-oxides, which are responsible for lung diseases, acid rain and smog. These emissions are increasing. Official data shows that the country consumed approximately 1,155.3 million tonnes of coal in 2023, of which 826.64 million tonnes were accounted for by thermal power plants. This is an uptick from the 1072.81 million tonnes of coal consumed in 2023. In 2024, India consumed 1,267.58 million tonnes of coal. During combustion, the sulphur in coal combines with oxygen, forming sulfur dioxide, which contributes to an increase in particulate matter, or PM2.5, unless effective capture mechanisms are in place. Students return home from Thakur Khambir Singh Harpayari De Middle School, amidst the backdrop of the Dadri thermal power plant, in Uncha Amipur village. Students return home from Thakur Khambir Singh Harpayari De Middle School, amidst the backdrop of the Dadri thermal power plant, in Uncha Amipur village. Photo: Suhail Bhat The impact of these emissions is brazen: Indian cities continue to be some of the most polluted cities in the world. New Delhi, which was the most polluted capital city in the world in 2023, has 11 thermal power stations in its radius of 300 kilometers. They emit 281 kilotonnes of sulphur dioxide every year, which is 16 times more than the 17.8 kilotonnes produced by burning 8.9 million tonnes of paddy straw, which is often blamed as a primary contributor to air pollution. The concentration of PM2.5 in New Delhi is nearly 10 times higher than the WHO guidelines. Air pollution causes more than 2 million deaths a year in India. Cities like Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh), home to the Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station (4,760 MW), Korba (Chhattisgarh), with multiple thermal plants, and Chandrapur (Maharashtra), housing the Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station (2,920 MW), have a similar stories too. India currently imposes regulations on the emissions levels and environmental impact of these plants. There is, however, no specific mandate requiring them to generate 40 percent of their power from renewable sources. India's goal is to achieve 50 percent of installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030, which includes both renewable energy and nuclear power. Over the years, the country directed the thermal plants to install flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) units at thermal plants, which use absorbants to cut sulphur emissions, thereby controlling the ambient PM 2.5 levels and improving air quality. The first deadline to install them was 2017, which has been extended multiple times since. Experts say the FGD technology works. Shreya Verma, programme manager for the Industrial Pollution Team at the Centre for Science and Environment, told Asian Dispatch that timely FGD implementation for Category A, B and C is crucial to combat air pollution effectively. The A, B and C categorisation is based on the location of thermal power plants that allows for a phased compliance. Category A comprises plants in cities with populations over 1 million, which had to comply by December 31, 2024. Category B’s compliance deadline is end of year in 2025, and Category C plants must comply by the end of 2026. In a written reply at the Lok Sabha, Shripad Naik, the Minister of State for Power said that 39 thermal power plants have successfully installed FGD, while 238 plants have had contracts awarded or are under implementation. Some 139 plants are in various stages of the tendering process. “We urge all stakeholders to focus on execution and hold non-compliant plants accountable with strict penalties,” Verma said, adding: “The repeated extensions of SO2 compliance deadlines are a grave concern, especially given the severe health impacts on millions in Delhi-NCR.” A 2024 report by Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found significant emissions reductions post-FGD implementation, of 65 percent, 69 percent, and 60 percent in the state, central, and private sectors respectively. Significant as this might be, Dr Yasmeen Abdullah, a gynecologist at Delhi’s Jamia Hamdard Hospital, told Asian Dispatch that it’s perhaps too little and too late for those exposed to years of toxic air from thermal plants. "The damage to their health is substantial and cannot be easily reversed," Abdullah said. Asian Dispatch contacted the Central Pollution Control Board and the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change for comments, but received no response. This reporter also reached out to NTPC and several of its officials. There is no response yet. The NTPC’s 2023-2024 annual report lists several measures to enhance environmental compliance, including in Dadri, where Uncha Amirpur village is located. However, these measures are not yet scaled to the level required for a company of NTPC’s size. Key technologies like FGD and biomass co-firing are limited to a fraction of its fleet, leaving significant gaps in achieving broader environmental targets. FDG compliance relaxations in IndiaShreya Verma, programme manager for the Industrial Pollution Team at the Centre for Science and Environment, says that repeated extensions for compliance at the thermal power plants is a grave concern. Photo: Suhail Bhat A Timeline of FGD Compliance 2015: The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change introduces emission norms for coal-fired thermal power plants. The first deadline is set for 2017. 2017: The Union Ministry of Power requests an extension of another 7 years. The Supreme Court grants five more years on top of that – up until 2022 – with the Delhi-National Capital Region plants to comply by 2019. 2021: A task force comprising representatives from the environment and power ministries is formed, whose job is to disaggregate 596 coal-fired thermal power plants based on location, resulting in Categories A, B and C with varying compliance deadlines. 2022: New deadlines set for sulphur dioxide compliance for non-retiring thermal power plants. Category A has a deadline of December 31, 2024; Category B of December 31, 2025 and Category C of December 31, 2026. 2024: A notification in December announces another extension for sulphur dioxide compliance for non-retiring thermal power plants. Category A now has a deadline of December 31, 2027; Category B of December 31, 2028; and Category C of December 31, 2029. “No one will survive” In Uncha Amirpur, rooftops of homes are covered in dust. The air is filled with smoke. The leaves on trees and crops are coated with a whitish layer of residue, giving an unnatural appearance to the greenery. Many villagers suffer from Hepatitis, cancer, asthma, and various skin and bone diseases. Their eyes are watery or yellowing due to the heavy air pollution. Most women in the area have bloated stomachs, often caused by Hepatitis C. Sarla, who goes by single name, is battling Hepatitis C, asthma, kidney diseases and severe bone disease. The 60-year-old woman’s left hand is severely fractured and she is unable to do any work. “I can’t stand for more than 10 minutes or even take a long walk due to my weak bones and asthma,” she says. “I’m so helpless. I pray to God for relief through death now." Whether it is summer or winter, residents say their struggle remains the same. It’s not just the air that’s contaminated with pollutants but the water, too, which is contaminated and severely harmful to health. Ninety percent of the people in the village rely on groundwater for drinking, which has a Total Dissolved Solids level – a measure of anything dissolved in water that is not an H2O molecule – above 1,000. A TDS level of over 600 is considered not fit for drinking, according to WHO guidelines.

Delhi’s PM2.5 levels in 2024 were over 2x the national limit despite stubble burning dip—CSE report

The annual PM2.5 concentration in the national capital touched 104.7 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) in 2024, more than double the accepted national standard of 40 µg/m³, according to a report released Monday by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). This is the second year in a row, since 2022, that Delhi’s annual air quality has gone down. During winters in 2024, Delhi’s peak PM2.5 level was 732 µg/m³, much higher than 2023’s peak of 580 µg/m³. All of this occurred at a time when the total number of farm fires in Punjab and Haryana, usually blamed for Delhi’s pollution, had reduced by 37 percent compared to 2023. “This cannot be seen as an annual aberration due to meteorological factors. It indicates the impact of growing pollution in the region,” Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE, told ThePrint “Delhi seems to be losing its air pollution gains from the past.” These calculations are based on the CSE’s yearly assessment of air pollution based on PM2.5 levels, using data from 37 air quality monitoring stations spread across the city. The winter data was collected between 1 October and 31 December, showing the staggering 26 percent increase in peak PM2.5 levels compared to last year. Winter pollution trends Another concerning trend noticed this year by the CSE was the number and lengths of smog episodes this winter. More than three consecutive days of severe air quality is globally considered a smog episode, and this year Delhi had an 8-day-long episode from 13 to 20 November, and another for four days in December. Moreover, while the Commission for Air Quality Management lauded Delhi for 209 days of air quality index (AQI) below 200 in 2024, in reality, there were only 121 days this year that saw air quality meeting the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) of below 40 µg/m³. And while the number of good air days increased from 25 in 2023 to 29 in 2024, there were no days that saw ‘good’ air quality during the winters of 2024. In its analysis of the farm fires this year, the CSE report used NASA’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to find that there was a steep decline in farm fires in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, especially in the winters. While there were about 37,276 fires recorded in 2023 during the winter months of October to December, there were only 10,712 fires in 2024 which meant a 71 percent decline. The CSE’s analysis thus showed that reduction in farm fires does not necessarily mean a reduction in air pollution overall, and the report asks for more ‘systemic changes’ and reductions in year-long emissions. “Local and regional sources of pollution including vehicles, industries, open burning of waste, use of solid fuels, construction and dust sources have undermined Delhi’s longer term progress over the past decade,” said Roychowdhury, pointing that between 2018 and 2022, the AQI levels saw a downward trend.

Delhi’s air pollution remains high despite 71% reduction in farm fires: Report

For the second consecutive year, Delhi’s annual PM 2.5 levels rose in 2024 despite a drop in stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and the national capital, according to a new report. In its winter air quality analysis in Delhi released Monday, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) stated that the Capital’s annual PM 2.5 levels rose to 104.7 micrograms per cubic metre — a 3.4% increase compared to 2023. The concentration was also more than double the permitted national annual standard of 40 µg/m3. This is despite a 71.2% drop in stubble fire incidents during October-December 2024, the study noted. Another key finding of the study is the surge in pollution peak levels in 2024. Even as the PM 2.5 average for October to December months at 178.3 µg/m3 remained largely consistent with the average normally observed, the peak pollution levels soared from 580 µg/m3 to 732 µg/m3 — a 26% jump. The study, authored by Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, CSE, and Sharanjeet Kaur, was conducted using real-time data from functional air quality monitoring stations in Delhi-NCR. “The worst station-level peak this season was 9% lower than the highest ever recorded — at 806 µg/m3 during the 2018 winter,” noted the study. It further stated that two major smog episodes were observed. However, Roychowdhury said as per a statement: “This cannot be seen as an annual aberration due to meteorological factors. The consistent rise indicates the impact of growing pollution in the region. Delhi seems to be losing its air quality gains from past actions. Local and regional sources of pollution including vehicles, industries, open burning of waste, use of solid fuels, construction, and dust sources have offset the gains — undermining the longer term progress over the past decade.” The assessment mentioned that a stabilisation of annual PM 2.5 levels could have been possible since 2018, and even a declining trend could have been recorded with apt implementation of Supreme Court directives on energy transition in transport and industry sectors. According to a statement by the CSE, Roychowdhury said the action has to “move much beyond reactive emergency measures during winter. The fact that annual trends have risen for two consecutive years, despite the decline in farm fire incidents during winter, shows much deeper systemic changes are required to cut round-the-year emissions from a variety of sources in Delhi and the surrounding region.” The study also observed that the average PM 2.5 levels in October-December 2024 were 4.6% higher than the three-year winter average (2021-2023). ‘Good’ and ‘bad’ air days The study noted that approximately 121 days met the National Ambient Air Quality Standards last year. This was similar to 2019 when the second-worst annual average was recorded at 109.1 µg/m3.

Delhi clocked three-year PM2.5 level high in 2024, reveals study

Delhi in 2024 recorded a three-year high in terms of annual PM2.5 (particulate matter having a diameter of 2.5 microns or less) concentration, clocking a reading of 104.7 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) last year compared to 106.4µg/m3 in 2021, according to an analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released on Monday. Delhi’s peak winter pollution also followed this trend, clocking 732µg/m3 on November 18,the highest since the city clocked a peak winter PM2.5 concentration of 776µg/m3 on November 13, 2021.While the PM2.5 levels were similar to 2019 levels—one of the worst-polluted winters when the AQI dipped to a low of 494 (severe plus) and 24 “severe” air days were recorded—Delhi fared better this winter on average, clocking PM2.5 average of 178.3µg/m3, compared to 182.1µg/m3 clocked last year. “A troubling trend has also emerged in the peak pollution levels. The citywide winter peak for 2024 soared to 732 µg/m³, marking a 26% jump compared to last year’s peak of 580 µg/m³,” the analysis said. To be sure, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has set a safe limit of 40µg/m3 for PM2.5, which is considered hazardous and worsens respiratory ailments, especially during winter. The study looked at PM2.5 concentration from Delhi’s 37 ambient air quality monitoring stations available from 2018 to 2024. For winter months, the period from October 1 to December 31 was used. The study said that the annual PM2.5 level was 3% higher than the three-year average of the 2021 to 2023 period, indicating a loss in air quality gains over the recent past. The study noted that 2024 winter average was 0.2% lower than the 2019 winter average, but 4.6% higher than the three-year winter average (2021-2023), based on data from 37 monitoring stations across the city. CSE said the annual average PM 2.5 concentration for 2021-23 was 102µg/m3 Sharanjeet Kaur, programme officer with CSE’s Urban Lab and part of the study, said real-time data between October 1 and December 31 showed alarming pollution levels when compared to 2022. “This was a 26% surge in peak pollution levels. The city also experienced 17 days of ‘severe’ or worse air quality, alongside two extended smog episodes with average smog intensity of 371µg/m³ and 324µg/m³, respectively. This kept the average levels elevated,” she said. Significant station-wise variations According to CSE’s analysis, in 2024 winter, only eight of 37 air quality stations showed an improvement in their seasonal averages when compared to the 2021-23 period. The most notable improvements were observed at DTU and NSIT Dwarka stations, which recorded an improvement of 26% and 22%, respectively, compared to the mean of the previous three winters. On the other hand, the North Campus, Okhla Phase 2 and Jahangirpuri stations showed no change in their seasonal averages.

Delhi’s Pollution Worsened For Second Year, 2024 Saw Only 121 Clean Air Days

Delhi’s air pollution worsened for the second consecutive year in 2024. The annual PM2.5 concentrations surged to 104.7 µg/m³ in 2024 — a 3.4 per cent rise from 2023 — following a significant fall and stabilisation between 2018 and 2022, said the New Delhi-based Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) in its latest assessment. This is more than double the national ambient air quality standard of 40 µg/m³, a worrying trend that could exacerbate the ongoing health emergency in one of the world’s most polluted cities. Alarmingly, the residents of Delhi only experienced 121 days in 2024 when the air quality met the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. This was even less than 152 days in 2023. “This consistent increase cannot be seen as an annual aberration due to meteorological factors," remarked Anumita Roychowdhury, Executive Director, CSE. “Local and regional sources of pollution, including vehicles, industries, open burning of waste, use of solid fuels, construction and dust sources, have offset the gains. Delhi cannot hide behind the smokescreen of farm fires anymore." Despite a remarkable drop in stubble fire incidents during October-December, the winter pollution remained elevated. According to the satellite data, the total annual fire counts in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana fell by 37.5 per cent from 63,721 in 2023 to 39,865 in 2024. The winter fire count showed an even more remarkable reduction of 71.2 per cent — from 37,376 in 2023 to 10,712. 26% SURGE IN PEAK POLLUTION LEVELS “There is a troubling 26 per cent surge in peak pollution levels compared to the previous year during the early phase of winter (October-December). The city has experienced 17 days of severe air quality, alongside two extended smog episodes, which kept the average levels elevated," said Sharanjeet Kaur, Programme Officer, CSE’s Urban Lab.

Why Worsening Air May Not Be Aberration

A new analysis of pollution in winter carried out by the Centre for Science and Environment says that Delhi is at risk of losing its long-term air quality gains. It pointed out that the annual pollution trend has risen for two consecutive years despite the decline in harvest stubble burning in the neighbouring states. The annual PM2.5 concentration increased to 104.7 micrograms per cubic metre in 2024 — a 3.4% rise from 2023. The PM2.5 levels has increased after consistently declining and stabilising between 2018 and 2022, says CSE. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE, said, "This cannot be seen as an aberration due to meteorological factors. The consistent rise indicates the impact of the growing pollution in the region. Delhi seems to be losing its air quality gains from past action." She added that the capital could hide behind the smokescreen of farm fires anymore. Despite a 71.2% drop in stubble fires in Oct-Dec last year, the winter pollution has upset the annual trend. According to the analysis, the city-wide winter PM2.5 average for Oct-Dec 2024 was 178.3 micrograms per cubic metre, a level consistent with the average since large-scale monitoring began in 2018-19. This is 4.6% higher than the three-year 2021-23 winter average. Sharanjeet Kaur, programme officer at CSE's Urban Lab, said real-time data from Delhi's monitoring stations for the Oct 1-Dec 31 period revealed a troubling 26% surge in peak pollution levels compared with those in the previous year during the early phase of winter. Last year, 121 days met the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, a trend similar to 2019, when the second-worst annual average was recorded at 109.1 micrograms per cubic metre. However, there has been a noticeable decline in the number of good air quality days, dropping from 152 days in 2023 to 121 in 2024. Even this winter, only eight out of 37 air quality monitoring stations logged improved seasonal averages compared with the last three years. The most notable improvements were observed at DTU and NSIT Dwarka, which recorded 26% and 22% lower seasonal averages, respectively, compared to the mean of the previous three winters. However, increased seasonal PM2.5 levels were recorded at CRRI Mathura Road (22% rise), Aya Nagar (17%), Ashok Vihar and Vivek Vihar (both 15%) and Pusa IMD (14%). CSE researchers said that Delhi could have stabilised the annual PM2.5 levels since 2018 (if the existing air quality monitors are considered) and could have even recorded a declining trend since 2013 (if the oldest five stations are considered) had the city implemented the directives of the Supreme Court on energy transition in transport and industry sectors. Roychowdhury said: "The fact that annual trends have risen for two consecutive years despite the decline in farm fires shows much deeper systemic changes are required to cut the round-the-year emissions from a variety of sources in Delhi and the surrounding region."

Delhi's PM 2.5 levels up in 2024 even after low stubble burning: CSE report

Delhi's annual PM2.5 levels rose in 2024 for the second consecutive year, despite a 37 per cent drop in stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and the national capital, according to a new report. The report by think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said Delhi's annual PM2.5 concentration increased to 104.7 microgrammes per cubic metre in 2024 -- a 3.4 per cent rise from the 2023 levels. This is also more than twice the national ambient air quality standard of 40 microgrammes per cubic metre. While the 2024 average is still 9.6 per cent lower than the 2018 peak of 115.8 microgrammes per cubic metre, it is 3 per cent higher than the three-year average of 2021-2023, indicating a gradual reversal of earlier gains made between 2018 and 2022, it said. The report highlighted that the total annual fire counts (on account of stubble burning) dropped by 37.5 per cent in 2024 in Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana. Punjab recorded a 75 per cent decline, and Haryana, a 37 per cent decline. Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, CSE, said the rise in PM2.5 levels cannot be seen as an annual aberration due to meteorological factors and consistent rise indicates the impact of growing pollution in the region. "Delhi seems to be losing its air quality gains from past action. Local and regional sources of pollution including vehicles, industries, open burning of waste, use of solid fuels, construction and dust sources have offset the gains -- undermining the longer-term progress over the past decade. "Delhi cannot hide behind the smoke screen of farm fires anymore. Despite a 71.2 per cent drop in stubble fire incidents during the October-December 2024, the winter pollution has remained elevated, upsetting the annual trend," she said. According to Sharanjeet Kaur, programme officer with CSE's Urban Lab, real-time data from Delhi's monitoring stations for the winter period (October 1-December 31) reveals a troubling 26 per cent surge in peak pollution levels compared to the previous year during the early phase of winter. The city experienced 17 days of severe or worse air quality, alongside two extended smog episodes with average smog intensity of 371 microgrammes per cubic metre and 324 microgrammes per cubic metre, respectively. This has kept the average levels elevated, Kaur said. Delhi recorded two major smog episodes this winter: from November 13-20 (about eight days) and from December 16-20 (about four days). The average daily intensity of this smog stood at 371 microgrammes per cubic metre and 324 microgrammes per cubic metre, respectively. At least three continuous days of severe AQI is considered a smog episode.

100km of roads that kick up dust to be paved from April in Gurgaon, Faridabad

Gurgaon: Around 100km of roads in Gurgaon and Faridabad, along with 50km in Sonipat, will be identified and marked for end-to-end paving as part of a clean air initiative. This drive will start from April 1. This scheme, with a budget of Rs 3,600 crore, is part of the World Bank's clean air programme. In addition to addressing road dust, the scheme will focus on construction and demolition (C&D) waste, vehicular pollution, industries, agriculture, and household emissions. Officials said the aid could increase to Rs 10,000 crore in subsequent phases. The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development aims to undertake targeted initiatives to reduce emissions and strengthen air quality monitoring in the state by 2030. Rao Narbir Singh, the minister for environment, forests, and wildlife, said the project would focus on Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat in the first phase, other NCR districts in the second and the rest of Delhi-NCR in the third-phase "Of the total funds, 10.9% will focus on strengthening state capabilities for air quality management, while 89% will be utilised for advancing sector-wise interventions and 0.1% is set out for IGP airshed cooperation," he said. On the basis of a source apportionment study published by TERI in 2018, a list of 16 sector-wise interventions were formulated under HCAPSD to reduce sector emissions by 2030. In 2023, PM2.5 levels in the city exceeded safe limits for 71% of the year, with only 105 days meeting the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Notably, 82 of these days occurred during the monsoon (June–Sept), with the rest split between March–May and winter. For the second consecutive year, no day met the stricter WHO standards. Gurgaon fared similarly, recording 103 NAAQS-compliant days in 2022. Cleaner air days were higher during pandemic lockdowns but dropped significantly in earlier years, with just 54 in 2018, 35 in 2017, and 37 in 2016. Even though roads may be in good condition, dust from nearby sources often tends to accumulate on the road. This dust is prone to re-suspension, primarily due to vehicular movement, the plan stated. To control road dust, these districts will utilize road sweeping and sprinkling machines, maintenance of curbsides and footpaths, increasing durability, quality of roads & overall metrics for operator performance. The plan is to design standard methodology and implementation technique C&D waste measurement at site and city level. Undertake measurement of total waste generated in the state (both legacy and ongoing). Introduction of a state buy-back policy mandating use of 10% recycled C&D waste among all construction agencies. It will also include installation of 500 CCTV cameras at potential dumping spots for continuous review and monitoring, levy environmental compensation on non-compliance to clean construction practices, formation of committee led by Chief Secretary, Haryana, including Dept of Environment, ULB, HSPCB, PWD, HSIIDC and MCs to ensure 100% utilisation of processing plant capacity. Apart from road dust, the city will be among four districts in the state where 10 air quality monitoring stations will be established by the end of 2025. Other than calculating air quality index (AQI), these stations will be equipped with equipment to study source apportionment – contribution of pollutants from different sources. Officials said that these stations will be set up in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Bahadurgarh – identified by the state pollution control board as the most polluted districts of Haryana. The procurement process to get equipment for these stations has commenced. Shubhansh Tiwari, a research associate at the Centre for Science and Environment stated that the HCAPSD is a significant step towards mitigating air pollution through targeted interventions across various sectors. By focusing on road dust, construction waste, vehicular emissions.

Delhi Pollution: लगातार दूसरे वर्ष बढ़ा दिल्ली में प्रदूषण, सीएसई की सालाना वायु गुणवत्ता रिपोर्ट में खुलासा

राष्ट्रीय राजधानी का औसत वायु प्रदूषण लगातार दूसरे साल बढ़ गया। वर्ष 2024 में वार्षिक पीएम 2.5 की सांद्रता बढ़कर 104.7 माइक्रोग्राम प्रति घन मीटर रही, जो 2023 के स्तर से 3.4% अधिक और राष्ट्रीय औसत से दोगुना है। वह भी तब, जबकि पंजाब, हरियाणा व दिल्ली में पराली जलाने की घटनाएं 37.5% कम हो गईं। थिंक टैंक सेंटर फॉर साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) की 2024 की रिपोर्ट में दिल्ली की हवा में पार्टिकुलेट मैटर 2.5 (पीएम 2.5) के स्तर के वार्षिक रुझानों के विश्लेषण में यह निराशाजनक खुलासा हुआ। हालांकि 2024 का औसत अब भी 2018 के शिखर 115.8 माइक्रोग्राम/घन मीटर से 9.6% कम है, लेकिन यह 2021-2023 के तीन साल के औसत से 3 फीसदी अधिक है। सीएसई की अनुसंधान कार्यकारी निदेशक अनुमिता रॉय चौधरी के मुताबिक, पीएम2.5 में वृद्धि बढ़ते प्रदूषण का प्रभाव है। इससे निपटने के लिए तत्काल रणनीति बनाने की जरूरत है। पंजाब में 75, हरियाणा में 37 फीसदी कम जली पराली सीएसई रिपोर्ट में राहत की खबर यह है कि पिछले वर्ष पराली जलाने की घटनाओं में पंजाब में 75 फीसदी और हरियाणा में 37 फीसदी की गिरावट दर्ज की गई।