It is a fact that citizens and civil society organizations across the country joined hands to demand that all urban local bodies should mandatorily issue timely health advisories to alert citizens on “bad air” days, on the second International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on Tuesday.

This will help save vulnerable groups from severe health impacts of air pollution. An online campaign to demand public health advisories has also been started. Brikesh Singh, convener of Clean Air Collective — a national collaborative network of organisations, individuals and institutions working towards the common objective of clean air, said this citizen-led campaign was being carried out across 132 non-attainment/million-plus cities via the online petition.

Non-attainment cities are those that do not meet the air quality standards set by the Union environment ministry.

Singh said that there is a mandate under National Clean Air Action Plan to issue public health advisories on days when air quality is unhealthy for citizens.