Lok Sabha Question No. 1889 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-19
Subject: National Conference of Environment Minister
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: V. Kalanidhi

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1889

TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.12.2022

## National Conference of Environment Minister

## 1889.  SHRI THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU:

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

- (a) Whether the Government has recently convened the National Conference of Environment Ministers at Gujarat;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the issues which were come up for discussion;
- (c) whether the Union Government has revised the target of reducing air pollution in cities to 40 percent by 2026; and
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along with the action taken by the Government to attain the fixed targets and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) & (b) National  Conference  of  Ministers  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change was held at Ekta Nagar, Gujarat during 23-24 September 2022. The Conference had  six  thematic  sessions  with  topics  focusing  on  Lifestyle  for  Environment (LiFE),  Combating  Climate  Change,  PARIVESH[a  Single  Window  System  for Integrated Green Clearances], Agro Forestry, Prevention and Control of Pollution,  Wildlife  Management  including  biodiversity  and  conservation  of wetlands and Plastics and Waste Management.
- (c) & (d) National  Clean  Air  Programme  (NCAP)  launched  by  Ministry  of  Environment Forest and Climate Change is a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution. NCAP envisages to reduce air pollution  by  20-30%  in  131  cities  in  terms  of  Particulate  Matter  (PM10) concentrations by 2024 over the baseline of 2017. NCAP has been extended till 2025-26 and targets have been revised to 40%.NCAP  strategy includes implementation of Clean Air Action Plans at National, State and City levels for source specific mitigation actions, financial incentive structure for targeted cities linked with air quality improvement performance, coordinated actions by Central Ministries and State Governments and their agencies, convergence of resources from schemes of Central Government, State Government and Urban Local Bodies and Building of a mass movement (Jan Andolan).  Details of actions taken under NCAP are at Annexure.

***

## Annexure referred to reply to part (c)-(d) of Lok Sabha Untarred Question No.1889 for 19.12.2022 by SHRI THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU.

## Details of actions taken under National Clean Air Programme Action Plans under NCAP:

1. Preparation of national level plan includes convergence of schemes/ programmes of different Ministries/ Departments.
2. Preparation of State Action Plans 24 States
3. Preparation of City level action plans in 131 cities.

## Guidelines:

4. Issued guidelines for release and utilisation of funds for 82 cities under NCAP.
5. Issued  operational  guidelines  for  implementation  of  recommendations  of  Million Plus City Challenge Fund recommended by XV Finance Commission for 49 cities.
6. Issued  guidelines  for  Capacity  Building  and  Outreach  Programmes  for conducting National,  State  and  City  level  awareness  and  public  outreach  programmes  on  air quality management.
7. Issued guidelines on Swachh Vayu Sarvekshan (Ranking of Cities) to rank cities for taking measures to improve air quality.
8. Issued guidelines on National Knowledge Network (NKN) and Institute of Repute (IoR) to provide technical and scientific assistance to States and cities for implementation of activities under NCAP.

## Monitoring and implementation:

9. National level Committees constituted to review and monitor the progress of NCAP:
- a) Apex Committee
- b) Steering Committee
- c) Monitoring Committee
- d) Implementation Committee
10. State  level  Committees  have  been  constituted  to  monitor  and  implement  NCAP activities:
- a) Steering Committee
- b) State Level Monitoring and Implementation Committee
- c) District level Implementation Committee
11. City level Air Quality Management Cells have been formed to undertake activities in line with the NCAP guidelines.
12. MoUs signed  between  CPCB,  SPCB  and  ULB  for  82  cities  and  MoEFCC,  State Government and ULB for 49 cities for undertaking measures to improve air quality.
13. MoEF&CC has also launched 'PRANA' a portal for monitoring the implementation of NCAP.
14. National  Knowledge  Network  (NKN)  consisting  of  experts  from  IITs,  research organisations, State Pollution Control Boards, independent experts, has been formed with  a  vision  to  build  local  technical  capacities  in  order  to  have  a  larger  pool  of institutes to support activities under NCAP.
15. 88 Institute of Reputes (IoRs) are assigned to 131 cities for providing assistance to implement City action plans.

## Sanction of funds:

16. Rs. 6897 crore have released to 131 cities till FY 2021-22 for implementation of city action plans for taking measures to improve air quality.
17. Rs.  2985.6  crore  have  been  allocated  to  131  cities  for  FY  2022-23.  Rs.  290  crore have been sanctioned to 82 cities (as on 30th November, 2022).

## Public Awareness and Capacity Building:

18. MoEF&CC  conducted  following  workshops  for  sensitization,  knowledge  sharing and capacity building of the stakeholders:
- a. For Western region, workshop conductedon 22nd and 23rd November 2021, in Mumbai and sensitised the States of  Maharashtra,  Gujarat,  Madhya  Pradesh and Goa about the NCAP and XV-FC grant for improvement in air quality.
- b. For Southern region, workshop conducted on on 21st and 22nd May 2022, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu sensitised the States/UTs of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry and Daman & Diu.
- c. For  Delhi  &  NCR  region,  workshop  on  'Dialogue  towards  clean  air' conducted on 7th & 8th March, 2022, in Gurugram, Haryana included Delhi and NCR region on the issues of air quality of Delhi NCR.
- d. National  Vayu  conference  conducted  on  3rd  &  4th  December,  2022,  in Bhubaneshwar,  Odisha,  covered  all  131  cities  across  24  states/UTs  and gathered scientists, experts, academicians, mentors, students and other stakeholders  across  the  country  to  share  and  scientific  knowledge  and  best practices to implement NCAP.
19. Conference and exhibition of Start -ups in the field of Air Quality Management has been  organised  during  'Eco  Alternatives  Expo  &  Start-up  Conference'  on  26th  27th, 2022, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
20. Nine (9) Cities have been awarded under 'Swachh Vayu Survekshan' with totalcash award of Rs. 5.25 crore.
21. Rs. 1 crore have been released to States to organise workshops and public outreach programmes on air quality management during FY 2022-23.
22. Pilot studies have been taken up in Delhi for evaluation of air pollution mitigation technologies.  A  pilot  Smog  tower  for  the  localized  reduction  in  air  pollution  has been set up on October 01, 2021 at Anand Vihar, ISBT.