The Pune Air Action Hub (PAAH) has written a letter to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) after observing discrepancies in the self-reported data for the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan (SVS), raising concerns about the accuracy and reliability of the assessment.
A copy of the report has been sent to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF & CC) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) along with citizens from other cities of Maharashtra too.
According to the PAAH, PMC claims that the roads are 100% pothole free, secondly, 85% pavements are made against the total length of road shoulders and 91% of roads are paved (metalled/concrete/blacktopped) against total length of roads.
Interestingly, in reality, several roads in the city are ridden with potholes. Even President Droupadi Murmu had also called attention to the poor road conditions in December 2024 during her visit to the city.
Under ‘Measures to abate dust from C&D waste’, PMC has claimed that 100% of C&D waste is collected against generated, 100% solid waste generated is processed, 81.58% of construction sites where the dust mitigation guidelines were compiled as per the CPCB guidelines.
But 100% of C&D waste was actually being collected, it would not be found dumped on the outskirts of the city, and even in city limits in empty plots.
The letter primarily questions the overstated achievements claimed by PMC and municipal Corporations of Nagpur and Chattrapati Sambhajinagar.
The letter mentions the gaps that highlight the need for stricter validation processes to ensure that the survey accurately reflects ground realities. The recommendations include strengthening third-party audits and incorporating real-time monitoring to enhance transparency and effectiveness in improving urban air quality, and involving stakeholders and citizens to validate the data gathered to ensure accuracy to some extent”, said Sharmila Deo
Urban Local Bodies gather data for various sectors like road maintenance, electricity, solid waste management, city’s tree covers among several others and submit it in a prescribed format. Scores are given for each of the data points, and every city tries to achieve the highest score. There is also a third-party audit that is involved.
The SVS is an initiative by MoEF and CC to rank cities on the basis of the implementation of activities approved under the city action plan and air quality in 131 National Clean Air Program (NCAP) cities. Better performing cities i.e., top 3 cities in each category, are rewarded by the Ministry with a cash price, trophy and Certificate with the title “National Clean Air City” under National Mission for Clean Air on 7th September every year on “International day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.” All 131 cities covered under NCAP are assessed based on the ranking framework submitted by Cities/Urban Local Bodies to CPCB.