Question raised in Lok Sabha on Survey of Polluted Cities, 14/03/2017. The Central Pollution Control Board monitors the ambient air quality at 680 monitoring stations located in 300 cities / towns covering 29 states and 6 union territories across the country under National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP). State-wise ambient air quality data including Maharashtra during 2015 is given at Annexure.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Preservation of Wetlands, 14/03/2017. 115 wetlands in 24 States and two Union Territories have been identified for conservation and management under the National Wetland Conservation Programme (NWCP) of the Ministry. The State-wise list of these wetlands is given in Annexure.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Ozone Pollution, 14/03/2017. Government is aware of the news report regarding likely impact of ozone on human health. The data related to ozone, collected by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), for the year 2016 is annexed. The data collected shows that ozone levels have not exceeded the permissible level of 100 μg/m3 at any of the locations during the year 2016. Since the concentration of ozone is less than the permissible limits, the reports published need to be correlated with the data and scrutinized before arriving at any conclusion.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Eco-system of Rivers, 14/03/2017. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) along with State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) monitors the river water quality across the country through a network of 1275 monitoring stations on various rivers under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWQMP). As per the report published by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in February 2015, 302 polluted river stretches have been identified on 275 rivers based on Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels, a key indicator of organic pollution.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Decline in Forest Cover, 14/03/2017. Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, a subordinate organization under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has been carrying out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially. The findings of the assessment are published in India State of Forest Report. The latest report in the series is India State of Forest Report 2015. As per this report, the total forest cover of the country is 7, 01,673 square kilometers which is 21.34% of the total geographical area of the country.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Conservation of Endangered Species, 14/03/2017. Census of major flagship species is undertaken at the State-level by the respective State/Union Territory Governments periodically. However census of tiger and elephant is undertaken at the national level once every four and five years respectively. State-wise estimated population of tigers, elephants, rhino and lions, as per the latest census available with the Ministry, is given in the Annexure IA, IB and IC.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Compensation for Damaged Crops under Insurance Scheme, 14/03/2017. While various crop insurance schemes have been under implementation since 1985 however, subsequent to a comprehensive review, National Agricultural Insurance Scheme [(NAIS) (Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana)] was introduced in 1999.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Cleaning of Rivers, 14/03/2017. Pollution abatement of rivers is a continuous and ongoing process. State Governments/ concerned local bodies are responsible for setting up facilities for collection, transportation and treatment of sewage as well as proper disposal of dead bodies for abatement of pollution of rivers. This Ministry has been supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in abatement of pollution in identified stretches of various rivers in the country under National River Conservation Plan (NRCP).

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Capacity of Sewage Treatment Plants, 14/03/2017. As per a report published by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in March, 2015, the sewage generation from urban areas in the country is estimated at 61,948 million litres per day (mld), against which a sewage treatment capacity of 23,277 mld, or 37% of the sewage generation is available. The State-wise details of sewage generation from urban areas and corresponding sewage treatment capacity available are at Annexure.

Question raised in Lok Sabha on Contamination of Ground Water, 10/03/2017. Diseases such as Cholera, Acute Diarrhoeal Diseases (Dysentery and Diarrhea), Enteric Fever (Typhoid) and Viral Hepatitis A & E are caused by consumption of contaminated drinking water. State/UT wise details of number of cases and deaths reported due to these diseases during 2014-16 as per data compiled by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) are indicated in Annexure I.