NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, MAY 21
Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav on Saturday appreciated the Tamil Nadu Government’s efforts in maintaining the air quality of Chennai, Madurai and Trichy within the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
The minister also praised the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board for the initiative of E- Commute program, under which all the officials of the board commute to office every Wednesday through non fossil fuel driven vehicles.
Let’s make ‘Clean Air For All’ a participative mission: Union Minister @byadavbjp in Chennai
The air quality improvement efforts have shown positive trends in the achievement of better air quality in cities across the country
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Inaugurating the Sensitization cum Review Workshop – National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and XV-FC Million Plus Cities Challenge Fund (XV-FC MPCCF) of Southern region comprising Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli, the minister appeals for a participative mission with a slogan ‘It’s time to make ‘Clean Air For All’.
Manjapai Vending Machine is finally here. It is a challenge to make cloth bags available in public places at an affordable cost. We are working to set up these machines at market places & bus stops etc Prototype is ready and details will come soon #meendummanjapai #manjapai pic.twitter.com/UByJyZ55AK
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The minister said that the air quality improvement efforts have shown positive trends in achievement of better air quality in cities across the country. But if we wish to achieve what we aspire, ‘Jan Bhagidari’ or participative governance holds the key,” Yadva added.
In another revolutionary step, the minister asserted that India leapfrogged to BS-VI standard and the adoption of its norms for fuel and vehicles is one of the landmark policy decisions towards combating air pollution.
“Under NCAP, 132 non-attainment cities have been identified across the country based on the Air Quality data from 2014-2018. The list is a heterogeneous mix of cities of all sizes and types and in southern India we have 13 such cities from Andhra Pradesh and 4 each from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana”, he added.
Bhupender Yadav recalled the Prime Minister’s commitment to ensure clean air to all people by improving the air quality in around 100 cities through holistic approach.
The Minister appealed to the youths to become active agents in the mission to improve air quality by adopting sustainable lifestyles, appropriate behaviours and attitudes and become change agents of the society. He expressed confidence that with the coordination, collaboration, participation and sustained efforts of all stakeholders, the objectives of NCAP in addressing the issue of air pollution in a comprehensive manner will be achieved, the minister added.
Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Tamilnadu Minister for Environment Siva V Meyyanathan, Secretary of Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Leena Nandan, Tamil Nadu Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forest, Supriya Sahu, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, Naresh Pal Gangwar participated in the inaugural ceremony of the 2 day regional workshop organised by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.