Lok Sabha Question No. 4171 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-13
Subject: Funds Allocated for Combating Air Pollution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION N0.4171

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2019

## Funds Allocated for Combating Air Pollution

## 4171. COL. RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE:

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

- (a) whether any fund has been allocated during the last three years to combat air pollution in northern India, especially Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the purpose for which the aforementioned allocated money has been spent over the past three years;
- (d) the details of the status and outcome of such projects on which the said money was spent on; and
- (e) the  number  and  duration  of  time  period  where  there  is  increase  in  air  pollution  in northern India due to stubble burning?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) to  (c)The  Central  Government  launched  National  Clean  Air  Programme  (NCAP)  as a long-term, 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, which includes cities from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

For  the  cities  with  million  plus  population  and  PM10>90µg/m³,  MoEF&CC  has earmarked ₹10 Crores in the current year for various components that inter-alia includes Installation  and  commissioning  of  CAAQMS,  Creating  green  buffer  zone  along  the roads,  Mechanical  street  sweeper,  Mobile  Enforcement  Unit,  Public  awareness  and capacity building activities, Water sprinkler.  For the cities with population, less than 5 lakhs, funds of ₹10 lakhs per city has been allocated and for cities with a population of 5 to10 lakhs, ₹20 lakhs per city has been allocated.Further, in order to prevent the stubble burning, a new Central Sector Scheme on 'Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the States of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi' for the period from 2018-19 to 2019-20 is being implemented by Ministry  of  Agriculture  and  Farmers'  Welfare  with  the  total  release  from  the  Central funds of Rs. 1151.80 crore (Rs. 591.65 crore in 2018-19 and Rs. 560.15 crore in 201920).

- (d) Due to roll out of Scheme on 'Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue, the total number of stubble burning events in the States Punjab, Haryana and UP have been reduced from 292285 in 2016 to 61332 in 2019.
- (e) As per the report of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, Ministry of  Earth  Sciences,  during  winter  season  stubble  burning  in  Northern  States  adds  to spike  in  air  pollution  resulting  from  local  contribution  and  unique  meteorological conditions  in  Delhi  and  NCR.  Contribution  of  Stubble  burning  in  PM2.5  levels  in Delhi has been reported by System of Air Quality & Weather Forecasting & Research (SAFAR)-FORECASTING MODEL developed by IITM. As per SAFAR MODEL, estimated impact of stubble burning in PM2.5 level in Delhi ranged between 2%  (7 th November, 2019) to 46%  (31 st October, 2019).

***