VISAKHAPATNAM: Five cities in the State, namely Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Kurnool, and Nellore have been selected in order to make them pollution free, according to Union Minister for Environment Prakash Javadekar.In a written reply to a query raised by YSRCP MP V Vijay Sai Reddy in Rajya Sabha on Monday, Javadekar said a ‘national clean air programme’ was launched to make the cities, which were affected by pollution, to be free of it.
The Minister said 102 cities in the country have been identified as pollution hit as per data of air ambience quality in different cities between 2011 and 2015 and also according to figures of the World Bank report. Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Kurnool, and Nellore from Andhra Pradesh figure in the list, the Minister said.
He said the Andhra Pradesh government and the Central Pollution Control Board have given their nod for an action plan to check pollution in these cities. The Minister stated that his ministry sanctioned Rs 10 crore each, for 28 cities having population more than 10 lakh to improve air ambience quality by checking pollution levels.
He explained various steps taken to check pollution in these cities.
They include generating awareness among people, deployment of sweeping machines, water sprinklers, setting up of monitoring stations to test air quality and launching of plantation programme in a big way, Javadekar told Vijay Sai Reddy in his reply.