Clean-air push in doldrums, city hopes for greener 2026
Times of India | 2 January 2026
Kolkata: Kolkata's struggle with air pollution entered a critical phase. While the city recorded measurable improvements in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels since the launch of India's National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), recent data suggest that progress slowed, even as national targets became more stringent. A new 2025 analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) underscores that Kolkata's experience reflects a wider challenge facing India's megacities: early gains did not translate into sustained momentum.
CREA's assessment, based on Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) available up to Dec 30, shows that Kolkata's annual mean PM2.5 concentration in 2025 remained at around 45 µg/m³—almost identical to 2024. Similar stagnation was observed in Mumbai, while Delhi continued to record far higher pollution levels. Southern megacities such as Bengaluru and Chennai remained relatively clean, though still above health-based guidelines.
Kolkata's air quality journey under the NCAP began with cautious optimism. When the programme was launched in 2019, the city was tasked with cutting PM2.5 concentrations by 20–30% by 2024, using 2017 as the baseline year. That goal appeared achievable: annual averages fell sharply from pre-pandemic highs, aided partly by lockdown-related reductions in traffic and industrial activity. By 2020, PM2.5 levels dropped to about 49 µg/m³, compared with over 70 µg/m³ in 2018.
However, in 2022, the Centre revised NCAP targets, raising the bar to a 40% reduction in particulate pollution by 2026. For Kolkata, this marked a significant escalation. Studies cited by experts indicate that by early 2025, the city achieved roughly a 21.5% reduction, with annual averages declining from about 57.1 µg/m³ in 2019 to 45 µg/m³ in 2025.
Calling the uniform target-setting under NCAP ‘fundamentally unfair', West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) chairman Kalyan Rudra said Kolkata's unique geographical disadvantage was not adequately factored in. "How can the same reduction target apply to both a donor city and a recipient city?" he asked. "If one closely tracks the movement of air pollution across the Indo-Gangetic plain, it travels from the north-west towards the east. Kolkata lies at the receiving end of these transboundary pollutants. Expecting the city to meet the same targets as other cities in the IGP ignores this reality."
A key concern flagged by experts is the role of biomass and solid-waste burning. Dust from construction, road resuspension, and emissions from nearby industrial clusters further increase the issue. Experts caution that without stronger, coordinated action, Kolkata risks remaining stuck on a pollution plateau.