Chennai, May 21 (PTI) Appealing to the people, especially youngsters, to become active agents to improve the air quality by adopting sustainable lifestyles, appropriate behaviour and attitude, Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav stressed that "Jan Bhagidari" or participative governance held the key to ensure "clean air for all." Emphasising that it’s time to make "clean air for all" a participative mission, the Minister said the air quality improvement efforts have shown positive trends in achievement of better air quality in cities across the country."But if we wish to achieve what we aspire, then, "Jan Bhagidari’ or participative governance holds the key,” he said while inaugurating a sensitisation-cum-review workshop – National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and XV-FC Million Plus Cities Challenge Fund (XV-FC MPCCF) of the southern region here.The southern region comprises Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli.“Under NCAP, 132 non-attainment cities have been identified across the country based on the air quality data from 2014-2018. The list is a heterogeneous mix of cities of all sizes and types and in southern India we have 13 such cities from Andhra Pradesh and 4 each from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana,” Bhupender Yadav noted.He recalled the Prime Minister’s commitment to ensure clean air to all people by improving the air quality in around 100 cities through holistic approach.He appealed to the young population to become active agents in the mission to improve air quality by adopting sustainable lifestyles, appropriate behaviours and attitudes and become change agents of the society. "I am confident that with the coordination, collaboration, participation and sustained efforts of all stakeholders, the objectives of NCAP in addressing the issue of air pollution in a comprehensive manner will be achieved," Yadav said.Appreciating Tamil Nadu for its efforts to improve the air quality he lauded the state Pollution Control Board for the initiative on E-Commute programme, under which all the officials of the board commute to office every Wednesday through non-fossil fuel driven vehicles.The Minister asserted that India leapfrogged to BS-VI standard and the adoption of its norms for fuel and vehicles is one of the landmark policy decisions towards combating air pollution.Earlier, addressing the workshop, Tamil Nadu Minister for Environment Siva V Meyyanathan, said urbanisation and industrialisation have a direct and significant impact on air quality. "Therefore to strengthen the AAQ monitoring network in the state and arrive the Air Quality Index (AQI) on a real-time basis, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has installed 34 Continuous Ambient Air Quality Moniroting Stations (CAAQMS)," he said.The Board was also operating one mobile CAAQMS to monitor the air quality at different places during the festival season of Diwali and Bhoti and carry out the survey based on public complaints and court direction, Meyyanathan, added.The Tamil Nadu government proposed to establish 25 more CAAQMS besides an Integrated Environmental Monitoring Studio in Chennai, to forecast air quality on real time basis with early warning system, he informed.Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Union Secretary of Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change Leena Nandan, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Climate Change and Forest, Tamil Nadu Supriya Sahu, and Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change Naresh Pal Gangwar participated in the inaugural of the 2-day third regional workshop organised by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change here. PTI JSP ROH ROH