Lok Sabha Question No. 3161 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-06
Subject: Reduction in Air Pollution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Meenakashi Lekhi, L.S. Tejasvi Surya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION N0. 3161

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.12.2019

## Reduction in Air Pollution

## 3161.   SHRIMATI MEENAKASHI LEKHI: SHRI L.S. TEJASVI SURYA:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the  actions  proposed  by  and  for  States  with  regard  to  the  National  Clean  Air Programme;
- (b) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  initiate  a  joint  programme  with  Ministries  of Road, Transport and Highways and Railways to reduce air pollution with emphasis on automobile emission and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether a cap on automobiles owned per family in cities with population of more than five lakhs would aid improving air quality index of the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to come up with any such rule soon and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  also  proposes  to  initiate  any  scrappage  policy  for  old vehicles, if so, the details thereof along with the other preventive measures taken to check the growing number of vehicles from plying on the road?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a) The Central Government launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a longterm, time-bound, national level strategy to tackle the air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner with targets to achieve 20 % to 30 % reduction in PM10  and  PM2.5  concentrations  by  2024  keeping  2017  as  the  base  year  for  the comparison  of  concentration.  Under  NCAP,  102  non-attainment  cities  have  been identified  based  on  ambient  air  quality  data  for  the  period  2011  -  2015  and  WHO report 2014/2018. The city specific Action Plans have been prepared and approved for ground implementation for all 102 non-attainment cities.
- (b) to  (d)  The  Central  Government  has  taken  several  initiatives  to  control  automobile emission for the abatement and control of air pollution. These inter alia include
-  BS-IV  standards  adopted  from  1st  April,  2017.  Leapfrogging  from  BS-IV  to BS-VI  fuel  standards  since  1st  April,  2018  in  NCT  of  Delhi,  in  NCR  since October 2019 and by 1st April, 2020 in the rest of the country for both fuel as well as vehicles.
-  To  promote  electric  vehicles,  Faster  Adoption  and  Manufacturing  of  Electric Vehicles  (FAME -2) scheme has been rolled out with an outlay of Rs  10000 crore for 3 years.
-  Permit requirement for electric vehicles has been exempted.
-  Promotion of public transport and improvements in roads and building of more bridges and bypasses to ease congestion on roads.
-  Introduction  of  cleaner  /  alternate  fuels  like  gaseous  fuel  (CNG,  LPG  etc.), ethanol blending in petrol.
-  In  Delhi,  operationalization  of  Eastern  Peripheral  Expressway  &  Western Peripheral  Expressway  has  been  able  to  divert  about  60000  non-destined vehiclesfrom Delhi daily.
-  In Delhi, about 500 new CNG stations have been opened during the last 5 years.
-  Use of RFID tags have been made mandatory for commercial vehicles entering Delhi. This has resulted in decrease in traffic congestion at Toll collection/Environmental Compensation Charge collection centres.
- (e) The Ministry of Steel has notified the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy on 7 th November 2019.  The  policy  provides  a  framework  to  facilitate  and  promote  establishment  of metal scrapping centres in India for scientific processing & recycling of ferrous scrap generated from various sources and a variety of products including automobiles. The policy framework  provides  standard  guidelines  for  collection,  dismantling  and shredding  activities  in  an  organized,  safe  and  environmentally  sound  manner.  The Policy  prescribes  the  guidelines  for  setting  up  and  responsibilities  of  dismantling centre  and  scrap  processing  centre,  roles  of  aggregators  and  responsibilities  of  the Government, manufacturer and owner.

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