The State government has reconstituted the implementation committee for implementation of National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to address the air pollution problem in Byrnihat, Ri-Bhoi district.
The Deputy Commissioner, Ri-Bhoi district is the chairman of the ten-member committee. The members are drawn from different departments. The Environmental Engineer, Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) is the member secretary of the committee.
Byrnihat was categorised as “non-attainment city” under the National Clean Air Programme. Non-attainment cities are those that have fallen short of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for over five years.
The committee will implement the action plan and interventions under NCAP to address the air pollution problems in Byrnihat, monitor the implementation of NCAP on a day to day basis, review the progress of action taken by various agencies in implementation of the action plan and submit progress reports to the monitoring committee periodically.
The Central Government launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy to tackle the air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner with targets to achieve 20 per cent to 30 per cent reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024 keeping 2017 as the base year for the comparison of concentration.
Under NCAP, 122 non-attainment cities have been identified across the country based on the Air Quality data from 2014-2018.
The NCAP also provides specific sectoral interventions for mitigation actions for key sectors that are known to contribute to air pollution in many cities.
These include re-suspended road dust control, construction and demolition related dust, power sector and industrial emissions, transport sector emissions, agricultural emissions, emissions from unsustainable waste management practices.
