Lok Sabha Question No. 1917 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-30
Subject: National Clean Air Programme
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Gitaben Vajesingbhai Rathva, Hema Malini, Parbatbhai Savabhai Patel, Naranbhai Bhikhabhai Kachhadiya

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1917

TO BE ANSWERED ON30.07.2021

## National Clean Air Programme

## 1917.  SHRIMATI RATHVA GITABEN VAJESINGBHAI:

SHRIMATI HEMA MALINI:

SHRI PARBATBHAI SAVABHAI PATEL:

SHRI NARANBHAI KACHHADIYA:

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

- (a) whether National Clean  Air  Programme (NCAP) is being implemented to reduce pollution level in 100 selected cities of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the aims and objectives of the said programme;
- (c) whether any international organisation has also been associated with the said programme and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether any Steering Committee has also been constituted for proper running of NCAP and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether this committee has prepared any review report on success of NCAP and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) the other steps being taken to reduce the pollution level in cities of Gujarat?

## ANSWER

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

## (a) and (b):

Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  (MoEF&CC)  has  launched  National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) on 10 January, 2019 as a national level strategy for pan India implementation to reduce air pollution levels across the country. NCAP is a mid-term, fiveyear action plan with 2019 as the first year. Taking into account the available international experiences and national studies, the tentative national level target of 20%-30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration by 2024 is envisaged under the NCAP. Under NCAP, 124 nonattainment citieshave been identified across the country based on the Air Quality data from 2014-2018.

## (c)

Several international agencies are supporting various cites to meet the objectives of NCAP. The details are annexed.

## (d) and (e):

Steering Committee has been constituted at Central level, chaired by Secretary Environment, Forest  and  Climate  Change  and  at  State  Level  Chaired,  by  Chief  Secretary  to  oversee  the planning execution and monitoring of NCAP. City Specific Actions plans are prepared at all the Non-attainment cites and are approved by the Steering Committee. The details of action plan is available at https://cpcb.nic.in/approved-city-action-plans.

(f): The Government has taken several steps for mitigation of air pollution which is at Annexure -II.  There  are  four  non-attainment  cities/million  plus  citiesnamely  Surat,  Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot in Gujarat.

City Specific Clean Air Action Plans have been prepared and rolled out for implementation in all 04 cities of Gujarat. City action plans include actions to control vehicular emission, road dust,  biomass/crop/garbage/MSW  burning,  construction  activities,  industrial  emission  and other  city  specific  sources  and  have  timelines  and  responsible  agencies  identified  for implementing actions. Under NCAP, Rs 12 Crore and under Fifteenth Finance Commission grants, Rs. 405 Crore has been released to Gujrat for implementing city specific action plans. Further,  serval  international  agencies  are  supporting  the  cities  of  Gujarat  by  conducting studies on Heat Sink Greening, Emission Inventorization, Clean TechnologyIndustrial,Developing strategies for control of air pollution etc.

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Annexure-I Details of International Organisation associated with NCAP

|   S No | International Agency                 | Project                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | Cities                                                        |
|--------|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
|      1 | German Development Cooperation (GIZ) | 'Heat Sink Greening, Emission Inventorization, Clean Technology Industrial '                                                                                                                                                      | Surat                                                         |
|      2 | GIZ &Mexican Government              | Tripartite Cooperation on 'Improving Air Quality in India and Mexico'                                                                                                                                                             | Bhubaneswar and Cuttack                                       |
|      3 | World Bank                           | Indo-Gangetic Plan - Scenario prediction of Air Pollution                                                                                                                                                                         | Chandigarh, Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur |
|      4 | Bloomberg Philanthropies             | Developing strategies for control of air pollution                                                                                                                                                                                | Patna, Surat, Bengaluru, Delhi                                |
|      5 | UNDP                                 | Capacity Building and Source Apportionment Studies                                                                                                                                                                                | Amritsar, Varanasi and Gurugram                               |
|      6 | UN Environment Program               | Development of City Action Plan and Emission Inventory                                                                                                                                                                            | Agra                                                          |
|      7 | Swiss Agency (SDC)                   | Capacity building, Emission Inventory and Source Apportionment Studies &Clean Air Project                                                                                                                                         | Pune, Kanpur                                                  |
|      8 | AFD                                  | Scoping study on air pollution                                                                                                                                                                                                    | Surat                                                         |
|      9 | USAID                                | Support clean energy, environment, climate challenges, health, open and inclusive digital ecosystems, inclusive economic growth, and the COVID-19 response in India and across South and Central Asia and the Indo-Pacific region | Surat- Gujarat & Jharkhand                                    |

## Annexure-II

## Steps taken by Central Government for mitigation of air pollution

- a) Leapfrogging from BS-IV to BS-VI norms for fuel and vehicles from 1 st April, 2020.
- b) Network of Metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
- c) Development of Expressway and Highways  are  also  reducing  the  fuel  consumption and pollution.
- d) Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like CNG, LPG, ethanol blending in petrol.
- e) Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) -2 scheme has been rolled out.
- f) Shifting of Brick kilns to zig-zag technology for reduction of pollution.
- g) Industrial units shifting to PNG.
- h) Pradhan Mantri UjjwalaYojana is promoting use of cleaner household cooking fuels.
- i) A new initiative,'Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT), is launched to set up 5000 Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) production plants and make CBG available in the market for use in automotive fuels.
- j) Installation of on-line continuous monitoring devices in highly polluting industries.
- k) Setting up infrastructure such as waste processing plants.
- l) Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic and e-waste management.
- m) Ban on burning of biomass/garbage.
- n) Under 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', agricultural machines  and  equipment  for  in-situ crop residue management  are  promoted  with  50%  subsidy  to  the  individual  farmers  and  80% subsidy for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres.
- o) 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 Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024.
- p) ₹  376.5  crores  have  been  sanctioned  to  non-attainment  cities  under  NCAP  for initiating actions such as expansion of monitoring network, construction and demolition waste management facilities, non-motorised transport infrastructure, green buffers, mechanical street sweepers, composting units etc.
- q) As per the Fifteenth Finance commission recommendations ₹4400 crores have been released  in  the  Budget  of  FY  2020-21  to  tackle  the  burgeoning  problem  of  air pollution for 42 urban centres with a million-plus population. Further, an amount of ₹12,139 crores has been allocated for improvement of air quality for the award period FY 2021-26.
- r) City  Specific  Action  plans  for  improvement  of  air  quality  has  been  prepared  and approved for implementation.
- s) Implementation of the city specific action plans are regularly monitored by Committees  at  Central  and  State  level  namely  Steering  Committee,  Monitoring Committee and Implementation Committee.

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