Lok Sabha Question No. 426 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-05
Subject: Funds for Clean and Pollution Free Environment
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Bhola Singh

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 426

ANSWERED ON 05.02.2024

## Funds for Clean and Pollution Free Environment

## 426.    SHRI BHOLA SINGH

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

- (a) whether the  Government  has agreed to  provide  an  incentive  of Rs.  255.12  crore  to five  million-plus  cities  to improve the air quality of urban life and foster a cleaner, pollution-free environment in Uttar Pradesh;
- (b) If so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has been steadly working towards ensuring cleanliness and reducing pollution in the cities of the country;
- (d) if so, the progress made in this regards so far;
- (e) the other steps being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (e): National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) has been launched in January, 2019 which is a long-term, time-bound national level strategy for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution. Under NCAP, it has been envisaged to achieve targets of 20 to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024 in 131 cities of 24 States/UTs with respect to base year  2017.  Subsequently,  the  target  has  been  revised  to  achieve  up  to  40%  reduction  or achieve National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in terms PM concentrations by 2025-26  with  respect  to  the  base  year  2019-20.  Cities  are  provided  with  funds  to  support implementation of respective City Action Plans for taking measures to improve air quality. All 131 cities/ULBs have prepared the City Action Plans under NCAP.

An  amount  of  Rs.  395  crore  has  been  allocated  to  7  million-plus  cities  namely,  Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Kanpur,Lucknow, Meerut and Varanasi for the FY 2023-24 under 15 th Finance Commission air quality grant for implementing City Action Plans    to improve air quality. Out of the allocated amount, the grant of Rs. 278.27 crore was recommended to be released to these cities, which includes an incentive grant of Rs. 138.27 crore.

Due efforts taken under NCAP, 90 cities out of 131 cities have shown improvement in air quality in terms of annual PM10 concentrations in FY 2022-23 with respect to the baseline of FY 2017-18. 15 cities have met National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM10

(60 µg/m3) in FY 2022-23. Details of the cities that have shown improvement are placed at Annexure-I . Details of the other steps taken to achieve the targets under NCAP in a time bound manner are placed at Annexure -II .

***

## Annexure-I

## Details of progress made by 131 cities in the improvement of air quality in the FY 2022-23 as against FY 2017-18

| S. No.   | Cities                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |   No. of Cities/Towns | Improvement inPM 10 concentrations in FY2022-23 as against FY2017-18, (%)   |
|----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 1        | Varanasi, Firozabad, Tuticorin, Dehradun, Moradabad, Bareily, Trichy, Nalagarh, Ahmedabad, Akola, Kohima, Sivasagar, Agra, Lucknow, Sunder Nagar                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |                    15 | >40                                                                         |
| 2        | Rajkot, Kanpur, Amritsar, Dimapur, Dhanbad, Latur, Kolkata, Srinagar, *Amravati, Gorakpur, Ghaziabad                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |                    11 | >30-40                                                                      |
| 3        | Raebareli, Jalandhar, Parwanoo, Greater Mumbai, Naya Nangal, Khanna, Anantapur, Dera Baba Nanak, Bengaluru, Allahabad, Chittur, Byrnihat, Hyderabad, Nashik, Ranchi, Kadapa, Alwar, Khurja, Jodhpur, Vadodara, Ongole, Kala Amb, Sangli                                                                                                                                                                             |                    23 | >20-30                                                                      |
| 4        | Rishikesh, Rajamahendravaram, Kurnool, Durg Bhilainagar, Talcher, Devangere, Jaipur, Baddi, Thane, Ulhasnagar, Delhi, Nellore, Noida, Mandi Gobindgarh                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |                    14 | >10-20                                                                      |
| 5        | Kolhapur, Howrah, Surat, Guntur, Badlapur, Eluru, Kota, Faridabad*, Durgapur, Nalgonda, Jamshedpur, Solapur, Jalna, Pune, Jalgaon, Madurai, Anpara, Gajraula, Kalinga Nagar, Hubli-Dharwad, Nagpur, Ludhiana, Patiala, Balasore, Barrackpore, Vijayawada, Haldia                                                                                                                                                    |                    27 | 1-10                                                                        |
| 6        | Silchar, Chennai, Asansol, Jammu, Udaipur, Angul, Sangareddy, Chandigarh, Chandrapur, Srikakulam, Guwahati, Vizhianagaram, Patencheru, Jhansi, Bhopal, Meerut, Raipur, Patna, Cuttack, Kashipur, Sagar, Gwalior, Navi Mumbai, Damtal, Dera Bassi, Muzaffarpur, Ujjain, Paonta Sahib, Korba, Jabalpur, Dewas, Rourkela, Indore, Gulburga, Bhubneshwar, Aurangabad, Nalbari, Nagaon, Visakhapatnam, Vasai Virar, Gaya |                    41 | <1                                                                          |
| Total    | Total                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |                   131 |                                                                             |

## Other Steps taken by the Government to improve air quality

## I. Vehicular Emissions:

- i. Leapfrogging  from  BS-IV  to  BS-VI  norms  for  fuel  and  vehicles  since  April,  2018 inNCT of Delhi and from 1st April, 2020 for rest of the country.
- ii. Network of metro rails for public transport are enhanced and more cities are covered.
- iii. Development of Expressways and Highways are also reducing the fuel consumption and pollution.
- iv. Eastern Peripheral Expressway & Western Peripheral Expressway has been operationalized to divert non destined traffic from Delhi.
- v. Ban on all  diesel  vehicles  older than  10  years  and  all  petrol  vehicles  older  than  15 years,in Delhi and NCR. (Hon'ble SC order dated 29.10.2018).
- vi. Environment  protection  charges  (EPC)  have  been  imposed  on  diesel  vehicles  with engine capacity of 2000cc and above in Delhi NCR.
- vii. Introduction of cleaner/alternate fuels like CNG, LPG, ethanol blending in petrol.
- viii. Permit requirement for electric vehicles has been exempted.
- ix. Promotion  of  public  transport  and  improvements  in  roads  and  building  of  more bridges to ease congestion on roads.
- x. RFID (radio-frequency identity) system implemented by South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for collection of toll and Environment Compensation Charges from commercial vehicles entering Delhi.
- xi. Introduction of BS VI compliant vehicles across the country since April, 2020.
- xii. Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) has been launched as an initiative to set up Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) production plants and make CBG available in the market for use in automotive fuels.
- xiii. Subsidy on e-vehicles under Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles  in  India  (FAME  -II  India)  scheme  of  Ministry  of  Heavy  Industries  is provided.
- xiv. Installation  of  Vapour  Recovery  System  (VRS)  in  new  and  existing  petrol  pumps. Selling  gasoline  >100kl  per  month  in  million  plus  cities  and  those  selling  >300kl permonth in cities with population between 1 lakh to 1 million.

## II. Industrial Emissions:

- i. Notification regarding SO2 and NOx emission standards have been issued for Thermal Power Plants.
- ii. Ban  on  use  of  pet  coke  and  furnace  oil  as  fuel  in  NCR  States  since  October  24, 2017and ban on use of imported pet coke in the country since July  26, 2018, with exception for use in permitted processes (processes in cement plants, lime kilns and calcium carbide manufacturing units).
- iii. Shifting of industrial units to PNG.
- iv. Installation  of  online  continuous  emission  monitoring  devices  in  highly  polluting industries.
- v. Brick kilns shifting to zig-zag technology or vertical shaft or use Piped Natural Gas as fuel in brick making to reduce pollution.
- vi. System and Procedure for Emission Compliance Testing of Retro-fit Emission
- vii. Control  Devices  (RECD)  for  Diesel  Power  Generating  Set  Engines  up  to  Gross Mechanical Power 800 kW developed.
- viii. Development of low carbon strategies across sectors such as phasing out older coal -based power plants, compliance of standards, City Gas Distribution (CGD) network,emphasis on improved power reliability in urban areas, etc.
- ix. Developing an eco-system for processing biomass/agriculture residue as fuel inindustrial applications in Delhi-NCR.
- x. Uniform and affordable PNG pricing policy for aggravating use PNG as fuel in industrial  applications in Delhi-NCR.

## III. Air Pollution due to dust and burning of waste:

1. Notification of eight waste management rules covering solid waste, plastic waste, ewaste, waste tires, bio-medical waste, C&D waste, hazardous waste and battery waste.
2. Setting up infrastructure such as waste processing plants.
3. Extended  Producer  Responsibility  (EPR)  for  plastic  and  e-waste  management  has been mandated on producers.
4. Ban on burning of biomass/garbage.
5. Bio-mining of three dumpsites at Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur is being carried out.
6. 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.
7. The  Commission  for  Air  Quality  Management  in  NCR  and  Adjoining  Areas (CAQM)on 17.09.2021 directed the coal-based Thermal Power plants situated up to a radius of300 Km of Delhi to co-fire biomass-based Pellets, Terrified Pellets/Briquettes (with focus on paddy straw) with Coal (up to 5-10%).
8. Guidelines prepared for providing one-time financial assistance for establishment of paddy straw based palletization and torrefaction plants, under which individuals/entrepreneurs  /  companies,  interested  in  setting  up  palletization  and torrefaction plants, using only paddy straw generated in the NCT of Delhi, States of Punjab & Haryana and NCR districts  of  Rajasthan  &  Uttar  Pradesh  can  submit  an application for obtaining a one-time grant on capital investment.
9. Guidelines  issued  for  supporting  Municipal  Corporations  of  the  states  of  Punjab, Haryana,  NCT  of  Delhi  and  NCR  districts  of  Uttar  Pradesh  and  Rajasthan,  for establishing  paddy  straw  based  briquetting  plants,  for  use  of  paddy  straw-based briquettes for cremation purpose only.
10. Daily monitoring of Active Fire Events (AFEs) is done during stubble burning period  and  reports  are  shared  with  Commission  on  Air  Quality  Management  in National Capital Region and Adjoining areas for suitable action.