A workshop on “Air Quality Management in Indian Cities Bridging the Knowledge Gap”

A workshop on  “Air Quality Management in Indian Cities Bridging the Knowledge Gap”

National Tele 24 News

Chandigarh,

16 May, 2018

A workshop on City Consultation for Tri-City (Mohali-Chandigarh-Panchkula) with the agenda of “Air Quality Management in Indian Cities Bridging the Knowledge Gap” was organised today at Hotel Lalit, IT Park, Chandigarh by Clean Air Asia and Department of Environment UT Chandigarh and supported by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. 

      The first session of the day tried to assess the data on air quality for Chandigarh city. This was done through two presentations. The first was made by Dr. Vasundhara Bhojvaid, India Program Manger (Air Quality), Clean Air Asia. The presentation shared the results of the Clean Air Scorecard Tool (CAST) that was developed by Clean Air Asia. The tool assess air quality management along three axes: air pollution and health index; Clean Air Management Capacity Index and Clean Air Policies and Action Index. Chandigarh is a 'developing city' with regard to air quality management and there is room for improvement. 

      The second presentation was delivered by Mr. Vivek Pandey, Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee. He shared the status of air quality in the city and showed that PM10 is the pollutant of concern in the city and above the national ambient air quality standards. As early as January 2018 in one monitoring station in the city. The inaugural session had a welcome address by Mr. Santosh Kumar, IAS, Director Environment, UT Chandigarh. Ms. Prarthana Borah, India Director, Clean Air Asia gave a setting the context presentation wherein she talked about the work that Clean Air Asia is doing across cities in India such as Dehradun, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati amongst others and now Chandigarh to work with city administrations to build capacity and provide technical guidance and support for making air action plans in these cities. The approach is to study a city, partner with the city government, and aid in policy development and implementation for better air quality management. 

        The chief guest during the workshop , Mr. Anurag Agarwal, IAS, Home Secretary-cum-Secretary Environment , UT Chandigarh, expressed the importance of working on improving air quality in Chandigarh and how the liveability index under the smart cities must incorporate air quality improvements for making a city sustainable and smart. He stressed the need was to act now before it was too late for Chandigarh city. The pre-lunch panel was a means to share best practices across Indian cities for better air quality management. The two cities discussed on the panel were Bhubaneshwar and Chandigarh. Both cities made sense as they are both planned cities, planned by the same administrator, Le Corbusier. Bhubaneshwar shared its experiences and policies for air quality management with Chandigarh.

     The workshop concluded with the last panel of the day covering issues of outreach, health and waste management for air quality management and how it can be integrated for Chandigarh.