The Gujarat Environment Management Institute (GEMI) conducted an emission inventory and source apportionment study in 2019 to develop a daily and annual ground-level profile of pollutants of the city, including PM10, NOx, SO2 and CO. 

An emission inventory is a database that lists by source the amount of air pollutants discharged into the atmosphere during a given time-period. The development of a complete emission inventory is an important step in the process of air quality management of a city.

Emission inventories are used to determine significant sources of air pollutants, establish emission trends over time, target regulatory actions and estimate air quality through computer dispersion modelling. 

The emissions sources were categorised into three major groups: 1. Area sources: Domestic sectors, hotels and restaurants, construction and demolition (C&D) and road dust; 2. Line sources: Vehicles, locomotives and aircrafts; and 3. Point sources: Industries, crematoria, etc. 

The major sources from the city’s 2019 emission inventory were road dust and domestic sectors for PM; industries for SO2; vehicles and industries for NOx and domestic for CO. Road dust emerged as the highest contributor toward PM in the city, contributing 36 per cent, followed by domestic (34 per cent). Point sources were the largest contributor to SO2 (93 per cent).

“Increase in PM10 highlights gaps in implementation and enforcement. While the action plan provided a framework, challenges such as insufficient industrial and vehicular emission regulation and unregulated construction dust have countered its benefits. Continued reliance on private vehicles and limited expansion of public transport have further aggravated the issue,” said M Pradheeps, climate and environment expert, Urban Management Centre, Ahmedabad. 

Most CO emissions were from domestic sources, at 88 per cent. From total emission load, highest pollution loads of CO, SO2, PM and NOx were observed at the central part of the city, with major commercial activities and high population and road densities. 

Fine particle pollution, PM is already a major public health concern, because it can penetrate deep into the respiratory tract (disrupting heart and lung function) and already exceeds safe levels in Indian cities. Due to its microscopic size, PM can lodge deep in the lungs and cause irreparable respiratory harm, especially in children. 

The highest contributor of PM2.5 in the cities naturally comes from industrial emissions (including power generation), followed by emissions from road re-suspension and construction activities, further followed by transport emissions from road, rail, aviation and shipping. 

“The pattern from 1991 is that green (forest) and blue (water) spaces were going down. A primary reason is the unplanned ways our development models are designed. There are no designated areas, even when they are mandated. We should start counting our carbon stock and how much of it can be sequestered. This information will encourage people to preserve and conserve,” said Shrutika Parihar, PhD, Global Centre for Environment and Energy, Ahmedabad University. 

Ongoing Efforts

The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) was launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in January 2019. It's the first ever effort to set clean air targets for 131 cities designated as non-attainment cities due to consistently high particulate levels exceeding the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

These cities are required to reduce particulate concentration by 20-30 per cent by 2024, from the base year of 2017. This target has been further revised to 40 per cent by 2025-26, with respect to the base year 2019-2020.

India’s NAAQs include eight pollutants: NOx, CO, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The NAAQs were last revised in 2009. India’s ambient air quality standards are less strict than those of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which recently revised its standards.

For example, WHO’s upper limit of annual PM2.5 in its 2005 standards was 10 μg/m3. In 2021, this was revised to 5 μg/m3. India’s NAAQs, last revised in 2009, specify an annual limit of 40 μg/m3 for PM 2.5.

While significant amounts of funds have been released to cities for clean air action, the level of utilisation is not up to the mark. 

Overall utilisation of funds falls short of target. Eighty two of the NCAP cities have utilised Rs 831.42 crore of Rs 1,615.47 crore released till May 3, 2024, which is only 51 per cent of the total. Of the rest, 42 cities and seven urban agglomerations have utilised Rs 5,974.73 crore of the Rs 8,951 crore budgeted, which is about 67 per cent. Clearly, the scale and speed of action are yet to catch up. 

In 2017, the 15th Finance Commission allocated an initial installment of 182 crore ($24 million) funding to the Ahmedabad urban agglomeration (UA) to improve air quality. In 2021, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and partners continued to develop and implement the Clean Air Programme (CAP).

A status report on five years of the NCAP by Climate Trends and Respirer Living Sciences, a ClimateTech startup, notes that out of the total Rs 365.54 crore received, the city utilised Rs 261.93 crore. 

NCAP targets for Ahmedabad and other non-attainment cities include a 20-30 per cent reduction in PM2.5 and PM10 ambient concentrations by 2024. On this front, Ahmedabad has seen a constant decline in PM2.5 over the last 5 years, from 61.7 ug/m3 in 2019 to 50.0 ug/m3 in 2023. This can be credited to how the city and its partners have continued to conduct health risk communication outreach to alert communities when the Air Quality Index (AQI) reached unhealthy levels.

The city acted to reduce pollution by addressing emissions from the Pirana landfill, initiating tree planting, expanding deployment of electric buses and limiting road dust. It partnered with local institutions to update and expand local air monitoring data to inform air quality management efforts.

“The most prominent reason behind lackadaisical implementation is loose environment impact assessment, which is supposed to keep future environmental risks in mind. Monitoring, reporting and verification: These are lacking as well. Digitalise these processes, making them transparent and open to checks,” said Parihar. 

To strengthen its outreach on health risks from air pollution, the city incorporated strategies developed in the Ahmedabad Air Information and Response (AIR) Plan into CAP21. These include email alerts and text messages notifying government agencies and school officials of unhealthy AQI levels. 

The local news media has published daily AQI levels, informing the public on strategies to protect vulnerable populations, including children, from the health hazards of exposure. 

While all of this is welcome, we need more adaptive and mitigatory policies to strike at the roots of the problem, which are invisible and potent.

(This is Part 2 of a series. You can read Part 1 here. Part 3 will evaluate initiatives planned in the CRCAP and make recommendations based on their assessment)