Agra City Action Plan for the Control of Air Pollution to be launched today 

Agra June 1 (PTI) An action plan to reduce air pollution in Agra, is to be launched by senior officials of the union and state governments, UN representatives and local stake holders at hotel ITC Mughal, today.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Air Quality Index, Agra was ranked as the 4th most polluted city in the country in 2016. This elicited prompt action by the Supreme Court of India by directly tackling Agra’s air pollution issues. The city’s tourism industry has hit a major low for the past few years owing to aggravated air pollution which caused the discoloration of the Taj Mahal. The city’s geographic location also exposes it to different sources of transboundary air pollution, an official connected with the programme said.

The Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has emphasised on national level strategies to reduce air pollution at urban and regional scales and has come up with the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). The goal of NCAP is to meet the prescribed annual average ambient air quality standards at all locations in the country in a prescribed timeframe. It is a focussed and time bound initiative to be based on air quality management plans for 102 non-attainment Indian cities. Agra is one of the non-attainment cities under NCAP. Agra has also been identified as a Smart City under the Smart City Mission of Government of India.

Those attending the programme include  Atul Bagai, Country Head, UN Environment, India,  Renata Lok-Dessallien, UN Resident Coordinator - Ms. Kalpana Awasthi, Principal Secretary, Environment, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh (TBC)- Anil Kumar, Divisional Commissioner, Agra Division, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh  ,  Keshav Varma, Advisor, Government of Uttar Pradesh,

 V. K. Jindal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, S.P.S. Parihar, Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board (TBC, C. K. Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change,  Ms. Preeti Sudan, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,  Naveen Kumar Jain, Mayor, Agra. The keynote address will be delivered by  Anup Chandra Pandey Chief Secretary, Uttar Pradesh.