Lok Sabha Question No. 4153 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-27
Subject: Schemes to control Air Pollution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Gaddam Ranjith Reddy, Ratansinh Magansinh Rathod, Hasmukhbhai Somabhai Patel, Vivek Narayan Shejwalkar

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4153

TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.03.2023

## Schemes to control Air Pollution

## 4153.   DR. G. RANJITH REDDY:

SHRI RATANSINH MAGANSINH RATHOD:

SHRI PATEL HASMUKHBHAI SOMABHAI:

SHRI VIVEK NARAYAN SHEJWALKAR

Will the MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of steps taken/schemes being run to prevent and control the air pollution;
- (b) the amount of funds released to the State Governments during the last five years to resolve the said problem;
- (c) whether the Government is taking assistance of Social Service Institutions to tackle the said issue of Air Pollution;
- (d) whether it is true that 15th Finance Commission has identified Hyderabad as one of the urban agglomerations for performance-based grants to improve air quality; and
- (e) if so, the details of fund sanctioned, released and spent on Hyderabad urban agglomeration, so far?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

## (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e)

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in  January,  2019  with  an  aim  to  improve  air  quality  in  131  cities  (nonattainment  cities  and  Million  Plus  Cities  in  24  States  by  engaging  all  stakeholders.  The Programme envisages to achieve reductions up to 40% or achievement of National Ambient Air Quality  Standards  for  Particulate  Matter10  (PM  10)  concentrations  by  2025-26  over  baseline 2017-18. NCAP focuses on preparation  and  implementation of National,  State  and  City  level action plans of the targeted 131 cites. Initiatives taken by the Government to improve air quality are given at Annexure I.

The details of funds released to the 24 State/UT during FY 2019-20 to FY 2022-23 under NCAP are enclosed at Annexure II .

Hyderabad  Urban  Agglomeration  (UA)  has  been  identified  as  one  of  the  Million  Plus  Cities under  XVFinance  Commission  (FC)Ambient  Air  Qualityperformance  grants.  The  amount  of Rs.443.5 crore has been released to Hyderabad UA under XVth Finance Commission Air quality performance grant during FY 2021-22 till 2022-23 for taking air quality improvement measures. Details of year-wise funds allocated and released to Hyderabad UA are provided at AnnexureIII.

Under NCAP, guidelines for engagement of National Knowledge Network (NKN) and Institutes of Repute (IoR) have been issued for providing technical assistance and monitoring of clean air action  plans.  NKN  has  been  formed  comprising  of  experts  in  air  quality  management  from various institutions/organisations for providing scientific and technical support to the Programme. Further, IoRs have been identified for providing technical assistance to States/UTs and Cities and monitoring of city action plans.

***

## I. Initiatives of the Government to improve air quality

Government has taken several initiatives  to  improve  air  quality.  The  following  actions were initiated by the Union Government:

## A. Vehicular Emission

-  Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI norms for fuel and vehicles since April, 2018 in NCT of Delhi and from 1 st April, 2020 for rest of the country.
-  Network  of metro  rails  for  public  transport are  enhanced  and  more  cities  are covered.
-  Development of Expressway and Highways are  also  reducing  the  fuel  consumption and pollution.
-  Eastern  Peripheral  Expressway  &  Western  Peripheral  Expressway has  been operationalized to divert non destined traffic from Delhi.
-  Ban on 10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old vehicles in Delhi NCR.
-  Environment  protection  charges  (EPC)  have  been  imposed  on  diesel  vehicles  with engine capacity of 2000cc and above in Delhi NCR.
-  Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like CNG, LPG, ethanol blending in petrol.
-  Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) 2 schemes has been rolled out.
-  Permit requirement for electric vehicles has been exempted.
-  Promotion of public transport and improvements in roads and building of more bridges to ease congestion on roads.

## B. Industrial Emission

-  Ban on use of pet coke and furnace oil in NCR, use of pet coke in processes in cement plants, lime kilns and calcium carbide manufacturing units.
-  Stringent emission norms for Coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).
-  Shifting of industrial units to PNG/cleaner fuel in Delhi
-  Installation  of  online  continuous  emission  monitoring  devices  in  highly  polluting industries.
-  Shifting of brick kilns in Delhi- NCR to zig-zag technology for reduction of pollution

## C. Air Pollution due to dust and burning of waste

-  Notification of 7 waste management rules covering solid waste, plastic waste, e-waste, bio-medical waste, C&D waste, hazardous waste and battery waste.
-  Setting up infrastructure such as waste processing plants.
-  Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic and e-waste management.
-  Ban on burning of biomass/garbage.

## D. Monitoring of Ambient Air Quality

-  Expansion  of  air  quality  monitoring  network  of  manual  as  well  as  continuous monitoring stations under programmes such as the National Air Monitoring Programme (NAMP).
-  Initiation of pilot projects to assess alternate ambient monitoring technologies such as low-cost sensors and satellite-based monitoring.
-  Public Grievances and Response System (PGRS) is developed under NCAP
-  Emergency Response System (ERS) has been prepared in NCAP cities.
-  Air quality monitoring cell has been constituted across the country in NCAP Cities.
-  Implementation  of  Air  Quality Early Warning  System  for  Delhi,  Kanpur  and Lucknow. The system provides alerts for taking timely actions.
-  Public  Complaints  regarding  air  pollution  issues  in  Delhi  NCR  are  taken  through 'Sameer App',  'Emails'  (Aircomplaints.cpcb@gov.in) and  'Social  Media  Networks' (Facebook and Twitter).
-  At present, Ambient air quality monitoring network of the country presently consists of 1340 stations (Manual + CAAQM Stations), covering 489 cities in 28 States and 7 Union  Territories  (UT).  The  manual  network  consists  of  910  stations  in  389  cities covering 28 States and 7 UTs and CAAQMS network have 430 stations in 227 cities covering 27 States and 4 UTs.

Annexure II

| The details of funds released to the 24 State/UT's during FY 2019-20 to FY 2022-23   | The details of funds released to the 24 State/UT's during FY 2019-20 to FY 2022-23   | The details of funds released to the 24 State/UT's during FY 2019-20 to FY 2022-23   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sr. no                                                                               | State                                                                                | Funds released (in Rs. crore)                                                        |
| 1                                                                                    | Assam                                                                                | 33.56                                                                                |
| 2                                                                                    | Andhra Pradesh                                                                       | 310.68                                                                               |
| 3                                                                                    | Chandigarh                                                                           | 23.05                                                                                |
| 4                                                                                    | Chhattisgarh                                                                         | 246.71                                                                               |
| 5                                                                                    | Gujarat                                                                              | 793.7                                                                                |
| 6                                                                                    | Himachal Pradesh                                                                     | 14.31                                                                                |
| 7                                                                                    | Jammu &Kashmir                                                                       | 51.03                                                                                |
| 8                                                                                    | Jharkhand                                                                            | 279.44                                                                               |
| 9                                                                                    | Karnataka                                                                            | 564.96                                                                               |
| 10                                                                                   | madhya Pradesh                                                                       | 599.09                                                                               |
| 11                                                                                   | Maharashtra                                                                          | 1684.32                                                                              |
| 12                                                                                   | Odisha                                                                               | 54.38                                                                                |
| 13                                                                                   | Punjab                                                                               | 208.15                                                                               |
| 14                                                                                   | Rajasthan                                                                            | 529.57                                                                               |
| 15                                                                                   | Tamilnadu                                                                            | 493.89                                                                               |
| 16                                                                                   | Telangana                                                                            | 459.9                                                                                |
| 17                                                                                   | Uttar Pradesh                                                                        | 1333.94                                                                              |
| 18                                                                                   | Uttarakhand                                                                          | 39.09                                                                                |
| 19                                                                                   | West Bengal                                                                          | 776.67                                                                               |
| 20                                                                                   | Bihar                                                                                | 317.16                                                                               |
| 21                                                                                   | Nagaland                                                                             | 10.4                                                                                 |
| 22                                                                                   | Meghalaya                                                                            | 3.23                                                                                 |
| 23                                                                                   | Delhi                                                                                | 33.75                                                                                |
| 24                                                                                   | Haryana                                                                              | 54.3                                                                                 |
| Total                                                                                | Total                                                                                | 8915.28                                                                              |

## Annexure III

| Details of year-wise funds allocated and released to Hyderabad UA under XVFC   | Details of year-wise funds allocated and released to Hyderabad UA under XVFC   | Details of year-wise funds allocated and released to Hyderabad UA under XVFC   | Details of year-wise funds allocated and released to Hyderabad UA under XVFC   | Details of year-wise funds allocated and released to Hyderabad UA under XVFC   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                                                                | FY 20-21                                                                       | FY 21-22                                                                       | FY 22-23                                                                       | Total                                                                          |
| Funds Allocated                                                                | 234                                                                            | 118                                                                            | 122                                                                            | 474                                                                            |
| Funds Released                                                                 | 234                                                                            | 118                                                                            | 91.5                                                                           | 443.5                                                                          |

***