'How long will the Modi government stay in denial?' asks Congress amid rising air pollution
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday questioned how long the Modi government would continue to "live in denial" over the growing air pollution crisis, citing a recent World Bank report that estimates nearly one million premature deaths every year across India and four neighbouring countries.
Referring to the World Bank’s latest study, A Breath of Change: Air Pollution in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan Foothills (IGP-HF), Congress Committee general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the report clearly outlined both the scale of the problem and the urgent measures required to address it.
"The World Bank’s latest report on air pollution in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan foothills is comprehensive, evidence-based, and unambiguous. It is also, obviously, very timely," he wrote on X.
Ramesh said the report spells out what must be done, including strict enforcement of emission norms for coal-based power plants and the accelerated retirement of the oldest and most polluting units.
It also calls for a shift away from fragmented, city-centric approaches towards legally empowered, airshed-based governance frameworks that cut across state boundaries, he added.
The report notes that air pollution across the IGP-HF region — spanning parts of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Pakistan — is one of South Asia’s most pressing health and development challenges.
Nearly one billion people in the region are exposed to hazardous air, leading to around one million premature deaths annually and economic losses estimated at nearly 10 per cent of regional GDP each year.
According to the study, pollution in the region originates from five major sources: households using solid fuels such as firewood and coal for cooking and heating; industries burning fossil fuels and biomass inefficiently without proper filtration technologies; vehicles relying on inefficient internal combustion engines; the burning of crop residues by farmers; and poor management of fertilisers, manure and the open burning of waste by households and businesses.
The World Bank has further recommended expanding and electrifying public transport systems, tightening vehicle emission norms and fuel standards, and strengthening institutional coordination to effectively tackle air pollution.
Highlighting a "deepening AQI-driven public health crisis", Ramesh said the Congress has repeatedly called for a comprehensive review of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of 2009, with a sharper focus on fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
The Congress leader also demanded a significant expansion of the National Clean Air Programme in terms of funding and geographical coverage, with PM2.5 measurements used as the primary benchmark for performance.
Emphasising the need for stricter enforcement, he called for uncompromising implementation of pollution norms without any dilution and asked: "How long will the Modi government continue to live in denial?"
