Nagaland Pollution Control Board hosts talk show on clean air

DIMAPUR — The Nagaland Pollution Control Board (NPCB) hosted a talk show on the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, 2025, under the National Clean Air Programme, themed ‘The air we share: Bridging policy and public action,’ at the Capital Convention Centre in Kohima on Friday.

Senior Environmental Engineer at NPCB, Aghali A Swu, in her keynote address, said that the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies serves as a vital reminder of shared responsibility to ensure access to clean air, a basic human right and essential component of a healthy and sustainable environment.

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She informed that the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2019, is observed annually to highlight the critical importance of clean air for human health and daily life, while promoting awareness, action, and international cooperation to tackle air pollution, a DIPR report stated.

Highlighting the 2025 theme ‘Racing for Air,’ Swu emphasised that clean air is a necessity, not a luxury, and urged all stakeholders - including government, corporations, civil society, and individuals - to join forces to find solutions.

She said that air pollution is one of the most pressing environmental health risks of our time and the world’s largest environmental killer as its impact go beyond human health and contributed to climate change by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gasses that harms ecosystem, damaging crops, forests and water bodies besides economic productivity, increasing health care costs and reducing workforce efficiency.

The environmental engineer also shared that the Nagaland Pollution Control Board has established four manual air monitoring stations and one Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station in Kohima under the National Air Monitoring Programme.

Swu noted that the board has been monitoring air quality since 2010, and data collected over the years has shown that Kohima fails to meet the national ambient air quality standards.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board, both Dimapur and Kohima were classified as non-attainment cities for failing to meet the prescribed air quality standards of 60 micrograms per cubic meter for five consecutive years (2011-2015).

Additionally, she mentioned that the National Clean Air Programme, launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2019, involves various stakeholders in implementing action plans to mitigate air pollution in Dimapur and Kohima.

Emphasising that achieving clean air is a shared responsibility, Swu stressed that it requires collective action from everyone to protect the environment and build a future with blue skies, clean air, and healthy lives.

During the panel discussion on the theme ‘The air we share: Bridging policy & public action.’ the panellists for the talk show were B Henok Buchem, Deputy Commissioner of Kohima; Krodi Rhetso, Superintendent of Police Kohima; Hukato K Chishi, IFS, Member Secretary, Nagaland Pollution Control Board, Dr. Kezholenu Sakhrie, MD (Respiratory Medicine); and Aningle, BA 3rd semester student from Oriental College, Kohima.

The discussion was moderated by Rongsenben Longkumer, Junior Scientific Assistant, NPCB.

“A recurring theme was a call from several panellists for collaboration between various stakeholders, civil societies and the general public to bring about tangible changes and achieve a meaningful progress,” the report stated.