Overview
- CREA’s 2026 assessment identifies Byrnihat on the Assam–Meghalaya border as the worst city for PM2.5, with Delhi and Ghaziabad next.
- Out of 4,041 statutory towns, 1,787 exceeded the national annual PM2.5 standard each year from 2019 to 2024 (excluding 2020), indicating chronic non-attainment for nearly 44% of cities.
- NCAP currently covers 130 cities, only 67 of which overlap with the persistently polluted list, leaving roughly 4% of chronically affected cities within the programme’s scope.
- Since 2019, Rs 13,415 crore has been released under NCAP and related grants with 74% utilisation, and 68% of spending directed to road dust management while industry and domestic fuel each received under 1%.
- Implementation remains uneven as 28 NCAP cities lack continuous monitoring, and among 102 with stations, 23 met the 40% PM10 reduction target while 23 recorded increases.