Bihar’s Air: The Next Step Must Be Beyond Rankings
Rajesh Kumar, Ex-Director MoEFCC & Advisor, EEIAPL
The results of the Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan 2026 should prompt Bihar to take a hard look at the state of its air. These results are neither a reason for complacency nor for pessimism. They tell us that Bihar has begun to build capacity for clean-air management, but the next phase must be much more systematic. The question is no longer whether Bihar should act on air pollution. The question is how Bihar can move from scattered interventions to sustained air-quality management.
Bihar is witnessing an unprecedented wave of development. Investment proposals worth thousands of crore rupees have been announced, and the Government’s focus on industrialisation, infrastructure development and employment generation are redefining the State’s economic landscape.
Unlike many coastal states, Bihar lies in the Indo-Gangetic Plain where low wind speeds, temperature inversion and persistent winter fog trap pollutants close to the ground. Even moderate emissions can accumulate rapidly. An airshed geographical area frequently affected by the same air mass, has to be taken care of when strategizing the program and coordination with other States become important.
Traditionally, Bihar’s pollution profile has been dominated by biomass burning, brick kilns, household cooking fuels and road dust. Resuspension of dust from unpaved roads and ongoing construction activities accounts for massive particulate matter (PM₁₀ and PM2.5). Fast-growing traffic, overloaded trucks, and old diesel vehicles contribute heavily to both Particulate Matters. In addition, Biomass & Open Waste Burning led by domestic fuel usage and local waste burning, especially during the winter and post-monsoon seasons are major concerns. Regional emissions from surrounding brick kilns using older, polluting technologies add significantly to the overall emission load.
The experience of Delhi NCR where the Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) is spearheading the air pollution abatement in coordination with the NCR States as well as Punjab, offers Bihar a scheme of strategic actions for control and abatement of air pollution.
The Commission has issued several advisories, Statutory Directions and orders relating to control of air pollution in sectors including industries, construction and demolition including linear construction, vehicular pollution as well as from dust from roads, use of DG sets, Municipal Solid Waste and stubble management. Web portal of registration of construction and demolition, dust management cells by in big land-owning agency are very powerful tools. These may be suitably considered by an State expert committee, amended and adopted in Bihar.
Cleaner fuels, improved combustion, appropriate emission-control systems and regular monitoring should become an integral part of air-quality management- number of DG sets, vehicles are already substantial. There are promising technologies which may held come handy in these cases. Government should organise series of workshops, seminars, technology demonstration where regulators, associations, individuals can deliberate on various facets of air pollutions control.
Citizens cannot be spectators. Citizens also need to become participants. Schools and colleges can conduct clean-air campaigns. Plantation should not be viewed as a substitute for emission reduction. But properly planned urban forestry, green belts and roadside plantation can complement source-control measures and improve the urban environment.
An Inter Departmental coordination and implementation mechanism under the Chief Secretary or ACS, Environment involving enforcement agencies, technical institutions and NGOs working in this field may bring good results.
Identification of the major pollution sources and hotspots city by city and preparation of source-specific action plans rather than generic pollution-control plans needs to be considered.
Instead of telling citizens only that “air pollution is dangerous,” campaigns should tell them what they can actually do. A strategic IEC implementation will be of great help where the affected sectors like industry, construction as well as public may be advised in advance about the need to have specific regulations and likelihood of government enforcement in near future. Such an action will trigger a thought process towards the air pollution problem and its solutions and they will be in a better situation to adopt the new regulatory regime which is likely to have financial impact on them.