Nagpur: Alarmed over increasing pollution in city, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) took the lead. Nagpur city on December 5 officially joined the WHO Breathe Life Network. Breathe Life is a campaign launched by the World Health Organization, UN Environment and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to raise awareness on the threat air pollution poses to our health and climate. Clean Air Asia India (CAA) is supporting WHO India on strengthening the Breathe Life Network in Indian cities.
The Breathe Life Campaign aims to engage cities and governments to join the campaign and set air quality targets, inform citizens of actions they can take to reduce their contribution to air pollution and protect themselves and support the health and environment sectors so they can lead more assertive government and citizen action. The campaign targets the major sources of air pollution that also contribute to SLCPs and, directly or indirectly, to multiple health risks including from transport, energy, waste and agricultural sectors.
Earlier, under the Breathe Life Campaign, Clean Air Asia India and WHO India in partnership with Nagpur Municipal Corporation, organized a training programme for officials of NMC on November 27, 2019. Many dignitaries including Additional Commissioner, NMC Ram Joshi and DCP Traffic Chinmay Pandit, as well as Senior Officials from Smart City Nagpur, RTO and Civil Society attended the event. The training programme focussed on health impacts of air pollution, air quality monitoring and standards, introduction of breathe life campaigns and group activities.
Following the training programme on Thursday, December 5, 2019, Nagpur Municipal Corporation officially signed the letter to join BreatheLife Network and announced commitments and implementation strategy under the Breathelife Campaign in the presence of distinguished dignitaries including the Municipal Commissioner, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, WHO representative and Clean Air Asia team and other prominent city officials and stakeholders engaged in Air Action in Nagpur.
Abhijit Bangar, Municipal Commissioner, Nagpur Municipal Corporation mentioned that being part of the BreatheLife network is a big advantage towards making both the citizens and the administration aware of the clean air programme. He also expressed his views on the fact that clean air being a topic of discussion in itself is a big achievement. Payden, Deputy WHO Representative to India congratulated the leadership of Nagpur city for committing to BreatheLife, truly a visionary step for ensuring clean air for city. Prarthana Borah, India Director, Clean Air Asia said that CAA India is excited to have Nagpur commit to Breathe Life. Nagpur has been very proactive towards addressing air pollution and one of the first cities in the country to have a detailed air action plan. Committing to Breathe Life adds another feather to the cap since the focus on health impact of air pollution will increase public engagement.
