Bhubaneswar: With the Centre set to rate cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to reintroduce the restriction it imposed in Jan on the sale and use of charcoal.Around April, the civic body had adopted a lenient view on charcoal use and cooking in coal-based chullahs given the crisis surrounding the availability of LPG cylinders in the aftermath of the West Asia conflict, which started on Feb 28. With the LPG crisis easing a bit, BMC has planned to bring the restriction back in a phased manner, targeting the manufacturers and sellers first and the users later. “We had brought complete relaxation in coal-based challah use after small hotels and other facilities faced problems following LPG shortage. But, now LPG cylinders are easily available and thus, BMC will restart the enforcement on coal use,” city mayor Sulochana Das said.The restriction had been brought into force in Jan because of heavy ambient air pollution.On Tuesday, as part of Centre’s survey under NCAP, scientists from the Central Pollution Control Board, State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) and representatives of the regional transport office visited the BMC office to take note of the measures the civic body is taking to reduce ambient air pollution and secure a better ranking this year.BMC officials said that apart from checking the sale of charcoal, they are taking a host of other measures, such as stopping the open burning of dry municipal waste and suppressing dust by putting paver blocks in vacant spaces. Paver blocks help beautify the landscape and reduce dust generation.Last year, Bhubaneswar was ranked four among 130 cities in India under the NCAP survey. This year, the civic body is aiming to put Bhubaneswar in the top three when the rankings are released in the third week of Sept.“Reducing the pollution level following the NCAP guideline is a mission that we have been taking up since the policy came into force in Jan 2019,” a senior SPCB environmental scientist said, adding, “Since during winter, AQI in Bhubaneswar crosses 300, SPCB as well as the civic body take steps to reduce air pollution.”In June, BMC installed pole-mounted dust collectors at multiple locations, aimed at meeting the NCAP standard. The dust collectors that are designed to be mounted on streetlight poles, deliver 3 lakh litres of fresh air per hour.In Jan, it came to the fore that cooking and preparing rotis were found to generate very small particles (PM2.5) that cause pulmonary complications. Subsequently, a BMC advisory was brought in where it was categorically mentioned that strict action will be taken against hotels, dhabas, kalyan mandaps and picnic spots using coal-based or wooden chullahs (solid fuel), except religious institutions where such practices form part of a tradition.