HYDERABAD: Air pollution levels have been decreasing in Hyderabad.According to a reply given by Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the average concentration of PM10 (µg/m3) in Hyderabad was 110 in 2017-18, 96 in 2018-19, 86 in 2019-20, 88 in 2020-21 and 88 in 2021-22.
He said that the National Cle-an Air Programme (NCAP) targets 20% to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter (PM) less than 10 and 2.5 microns (PM10 and PM2.5) by 2024. Thus, under NCAP, cities exceeding the National Ambient Air Quality Sta-ndards have been identified ba-sed on ambient air quality levels and have been notified to protect human health, the MoS said.
He said that city-specific clean air action plans have been rolled out for implementation in 131 “non-attainment” and million plus cities. The non-attainment cities in Telangana are Hyderabad, Nalgonda, Patancheru and Sangareddy.
AIS posts vacant
As many as 44 IAS and 17 IPS officers posts remain vacant in Telangana.Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that as against the sanctioned strength of 208 IAS officers, there are 44 vacancies. As against the sanctioned strength of 139 IPS officers, the vacancies are 17, Modi said.As on January 1, 2022, the total vacancies of IAS officers in the country was 1,472 against the sanctioned strength of 6,789. The total IPS vacancies were 864 in the country, as against the sanctioned strength of 4,984.
Cases pending
Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju informed the Rajya Sabha that in Telangana, 4,19,433 civil cases, 6,32,618 criminal cases, or a total of 10,52,051 cases were pending in the lower judiciary as on December 15, 2022. The total pending cases at lower judiciary in Telangana at the end of December, 2021 were 7,90,360.
Unemployment rate
Unemployment rate in Telangana is higher than the national average, according to a reply given by Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.The unemployment rate in Telangana in 2020-21, among 15-29 years was 16.1 per cent, among 15-59 age group it was 5.1 percent, in the 15 years and above age group it was 4.9 per cent and the total unemployment rate in the State was 4.9 per cent.In comparison, the national average unemployment rate in 2020-21 was 12.9%, 4.6%, 4.2% and 4.2% respectively.