New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday called for a rethink of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), saying it should not just cover cities but entire regions.
Addressing the India Clean Air Summit 2024 organised by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) in Bengaluru, Gogoi called for a time-bound plan to reduce emissions from industries while ensuring that they are not seen as "villains" but "champions of low-cost, high-quality energy transition".
"We are trying to find that convergence. Include local industry in your debates and conversations. This process and platform are important. We need to plan a transition roadmap that helps industries transition to lower emissions with a hard stop over a timeframe of two, three, or four years -- not a knee-jerk policy but a planned transition," he said.
Gogoi, the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, said the government needs to take a relook at the NCAP launched in 2019 to tackle air pollution in the country.
"It has not been a great experience for us as parliamentarians. There are severe limitations and it is time to rethink the programme -- either through an NCAP 2.0 or a better design of laws and schemes," the Congress MP said, emphasising an airshed approach to tackling air pollution.
"We cannot have the NCAP view of looking only at cities. You have to look at the entire region as well," Gogoi, the co-convenor of the Parliamentarians Group for Clean Air, said.
He said the focus of NCAP should expand from particulate matter to other pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.
Launched in 2019, the NCAP is India's first national effort to set clean air targets, aiming for a 20-30 per cent reduction in particulate pollution by 2024, with 2017 as the base year. The revised target is a 40 per cent reduction by 2026, using 2019-20 as the base year.
At the launch event of ICAS 2024, Jai Asundi, Executive Director of CSTEP, highlighted the importance of collective action against the social problem of air pollution to steer the participatory future for air quality management.