Angul-Talcher is located in the central part of Odisha about 120 km from the state capital of Bhubaneswar. The industrial cluster of Angul-Talcher comes under the 24 critically polluted areas (CPA) specified by CPCB under the Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) program – with a combined score of 82.09 which is the highest among the 4 CPAs notified in Odisha state. The region hosts a total of 69 red and 94 orange and 17 green category industrial units including
aluminium smelters, thermal power plants, iron & steel smelters, coal washeries, ferro alloy and sponge iron among others (See Table 1 for major industry).
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified a list of polluted cities, which refers to cities which violate standards prescribed by the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS, 2009). The identification is based on the ambient air quality data obtained under the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP) during the period of 2011-201501. In 2018, a total of 102 cities were identified as “non-attainment cities” in India based on the non-compliance to the NAAQS 2009.