Delhi pollution: AAP blames Centre for unused Rs 787 cr green cess

AAP said it had approached the Centre for permission for aerial sprinkling of water and was ready to spend on it

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday blamed the central government for its failure to spend Rs 787 crore environmental cess collected in 2017 and accused the Modi government of blocking projects to control pollution.

AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said the party never said the Delhi government had a shortage of funds.

"Though the government wanted to purchase buses, the central government did not allot land for bus depots," he said.

He said the government had approached the central government for permission for an aerial sprinkling of water to control pollution and was even ready to spend on it.

Bharadwaj told IANS that the government had been taking other measures like spraying water on roads to control dust but this was done using other funds.

On other pollution control measures like installation of air purifiers and vacuum cleaning of roads, the leader said both options were looked into but they were not found feasible.

Amid the city's fight against pollution, an RTI revelation on Wednesday said the Delhi government had failed to specify its utilisation of the Rs 787 crore green cess collected in 2017.

The Delhi government -- in the RTI reply to Sanjeev Jain, an RTI activist -- said it received Rs 50 crore in 2015, Rs 387 crore in 2016 and Rs 787 crore as environment cess from January 1 to September 30 in 2017.