Asansol ranks 20th in national clean air city survey
The Statesman | 15 September 2025
Asansol has secured the 20th place in the National Clean Air City 2025 survey released by the ministry of environment, forests and climate change. West Bengal’s capital, Kolkata, ranked 38th, while neighbouring Howrah was placed 39th.
The survey covered 140 cities and towns, grouped into three population-based categories. Category A includes 48 cities with population of over 10 lakh, where Asansol retained its 20th place since last year. Indore once again topped the national list, followed by Jabalpur and Agra.
Among Asansol’s neighbouring large cities, Jamshedpur ranked 23rd, Dhanbad 29th and Ranchi 30th.
According to the Air Quality Management (AQM) cell, Asansol scored 169.3 points. Mist cannons were deployed to improve air quality and efforts focused on reducing major pollution sources.
“We have distributed smokeless chullahs to street vendors and concretised footpaths and road edges to prevent dust from rising during storms,” said Bidhan Upadhyay, mayor of Asansol Municipal Corporation (AMC). He added that regular cleaning of roads and key VATs is being ensured, though there are no plans yet to make Asansol a bin-free city.
In Category B cities with populations between three and 10 lakh, Durgapur was placed 37th out of 42 cities with a score of 141.1 points.
“To curb growing air pollution, Durgapur Municipal Corporation will create a Miyawaki forest using Japanese technology, one of the most popular methods for urban greening worldwide. The foundation stone has already been laid,” said Anindita Mukherjee, chairperson of the board of administrators of Durgapur Municipal Corporation.
Amroha, Moradabad and Jhansi secured the top three spots in the Category B.
In Category C, cities with populations under three lakh, West Bengal’s Haldia ranked ninth out of 40 cities.