Legal Levers For Cleaner Air in Kolkata: An Assessment of Local Legal Authority

By Ama Francis

Air pollution in India results in significant adverse health and environmental outcomes. Only 16% of the population lives in an area that meets India’s national air quality standards, and less than 1% lives in an area that meets international guidelines for air quality. In 2015, air pollution resulted in 1.1 million deaths nation-wide. If the World Health Organization’s air quality standard was met, Indian life expectancy would increase by 5.2 years. The state of West Bengal, wherein Kolkata is located, faces some of the highest exposures to air pollution in the country, making local interventions there critical.

In recent years, the central government has taken steps to improve air quality, creating, for example, the National Clean Air Programme in 2019. Kolkata was the first city in West Bengal to be named out of compliance with national air quality standards under the program, even after the Air Quality Monitoring Committee developed a clean air plan for Kolkata in 2018. Despite some developments, including actions to curb one of the Kolkata’s lead causes of air pollution by banning open burning of coal and firewood, the city still has steps to take to enhance air quality.

This report outlines various measures that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation could undertake to advance clean air in the city. Namely, the city could:

1. Regulate the Combustion of Solid Fuels for Cooking;

2. Improve Roadways to Reduce Road Dust & Vehicular Emissions;

3. Enhance Solid Waste Management to Limit Waste Burning;

4. Establish a Public Awareness Campaign to Educate the Public & Reduce Risks; and

5. Support Public Interest Litigation to Compel Further Government Action.

The Government of West Bengal has significantly more authority than the city government to regulate air pollution, especially through the West Bengal Pollution Control Board. Given the transboundary nature of air pollutant emissions, a nation-wide approach to improving air quality might also be most efficient. Nevertheless, given that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has the authority to promote public health, construct and maintain roadways, manage solid waste, and educate the public, the city should use this authority to enact measures that would improve air quality, especially given that residents face some of the highest exposures to air pollution nationwide. These local interventions would serve as a beneficial complement to national action.

Read the report Legal Levers For Cleaner Air in Kolkata: An Assessment of Local Legal Authority in Columbia Law School's Scholarship Archive.