NCAP directs Delhi, Noida to improve pollution control fund utilisation

A central panel monitoring the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has directed the municipal corporations of Delhi and Noida, which are lagging in pollution control fund utilisation, to take immediate corrective measures.

The decision was taken at the 18th meeting of the Implementation Committee (IC) under NCAP, held on August 21 and chaired by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) chairman, to review and oversee the programme's implementation.

The committee said that "all implementing agencies must accelerate fund utilisation, ensuring that it is not below 75 per cent in any city", according to the minutes of the meeting published recently.

Launched in 2019, NCAP is India's first national initiative to set clean air targets, aiming for a 40 per cent reduction in particulate pollution by 2026, using 2019-20 as the base year.

Of the cities covered under NCAP, 82 receive direct funding from the Union environment ministry, while 48 cities and urban agglomerations with populations of more than a million are funded through the 15th Finance Commission.

Data from the Union environment ministry showed that only Rs 9,585 crore (72.4 per cent) of the total Rs 13,236.77 crore allocated to 130 cities since the programme's inception had been utilised as of August 18.

According to the data, Noida (Uttar Pradesh) utilised just 11.14 per cent of its allocation, Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) 30.51 per cent and Delhi 32.65 per cent.

Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) spent 41.09 per cent, Jalandhar (Punjab) 43.51 per cent, Gulbarga (Karnataka) 43.7 per cent, Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) 44.12 per cent and Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) 44.24 per cent.

The fund utilisation of 12 other cities and urban agglomeration, including Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh), Gaya (Bihar), Sibsagar (Assam), Durgapur (West Bengal), Kalinga Nagar (Odisha), Nalbari (Assam), Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Faridabad (Haryana), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Hyderabad (Telangana) and Bangalore (Karnataka), remained below 75 per cent.

The panel also directed state pollution control boards and committees to complete source apportionment and emission inventory studies by October 15. So far, 79 cities have completed these studies.