ANNOUNCEMENTS
Urban air quality management is an effective and efficient tool that can be used in managing acceptable urban air quality. This paper is an attempt to highlight the status of air pollution in Agra and how it is being managed by the authorities. The objectives of the study are (i) to understand the proficient ambient air quality monitoring network across the city, (ii) to understand the health and societal impact of air pollution, (iii) to augment the effectiveness of policies related to air pollution in Agra. After assessing it was found that there is only one air quality monitor in the entire city that continuously evaluates the air quality and there are six manual air quality monitors that have irregular and inconsistent readings. The inconsistency in evaluation of air quality leads to unawareness of bad air which in turn harms the health of the population residing in the city, leading to increased premature deaths and making women, children and elder persons more prone to serious illnesses. It is observed that the air quality decreases during peak summer i.e. the harvesting season for the agriculturists and in the months of October and November, which is also the time when a substantial part of the population suffers from respiratory illnesses and problems. To tackle the issue of deteriorating air quality, the government has designed and launched many policies and programmes nationally and regionally for the effective management of ambient air quality and to reduce the damaging effects of air pollution. The gap is the proper implementation of these policies and programmes at ground zero. All three components studies, air quality monitoring, health and societal impacts on the population by the pollutants and designing of policies and programmes are very much interdependent. Therefore, inaccuracy in the analysis of the air quality levels and/or its health effects could have an impact on the designing of the policies and programmes related to air pollution.
Keywords: Air Pollution, Ambient Air Quality, Central Pollution Control Board, Air Quality Index, Monitoring systems- AAQMS, CAAQMS
