Lok Sabha Question No. 30 (STARRED), answered on 2026-02-02
Subject: Funds for Controlling Road Dust Pollution
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Dr. Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Shri Ravindra Dattaram Waikar

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 30

TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.02.2026

## Funds for Controlling Road Dust Pollution

- *30.   DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: SHRI RAVINDRA DATTARAM WAIKAR:

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

- (a) the  detailed  data  on  the  funds  sanctioned  and  disbursed  for  controlling  road  dust pollution;
- (b) whether  there  has  been  a  percentage  reduction  in  road  dust  levels  after  the implementation of mechanised sweeping and water-sprinkling measures and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  details  of  the  innovative  technologies  or  materials  introduced  to  prevent  dust resuspension  on  busy  roads  and  construction-heavy  areas  particularly  in  Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Pune districts;
- (d) the details of the measures taken/being taken to ensure strict accountability of civic agencies responsible for road maintenance and dust control; and
- (e) whether the Government is planning to penalise non-compliance of road-dust control measures by municipal bodies and private contractors in future and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BHUPENDER YADAV)

(a) to (e)  A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

****

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARAS (A) TO (E) OF THE LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  30  DUE  FOR  REPLY  ON  02.02.2026 REGARDING FUNDS FOR CONTROLLING ROAD DUST POLLUTION BY DR. SHRIKANT  EKNATH  SHINDE,  HON'BLE  MEMBER  OF  PARLIAMENT  AND SHRI RAVINDRA DATTARAM WAIKAR, HON'BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

(a) to (b): Out of 130 cities, 48 Million-Plus Cities/ Urban Agglomerations are funded under XVth Finance Commission Million-Plus City Challenge Fund as an air quality performance grant, and remaining 82 cities are funded under Control of Pollution Scheme of MoEF&CC. Till  date,  ₹13,852.22  crore  has  been  released  to  130  cities  under  the  National  Clean  Air Programme (NCAP) as critical gap funding for the implementation of air pollution mitigation measures. Funds under NCAP are released to each cities for implementation of City Action Plan, which includes measures to control road dust as one of the component. Accordingly, information submitted by respective ULBs have reported on the PRANA portal, Rs. 7,094.39 crore has been utilized for measures for control of road dust.

Findings of source apportionment studies conducted in cities under NCAP have revealed road dust is the major contributor and accounts for 20-60% PM10 concentrations. City action plans implemented under NCAP address road dust control, construction & demolition activities, open waste burning, vehicular pollution and industrial pollution etc. The focused actions by 130 cities  under  NCAP  have  shown  positive  results  with  103 cities  showing  reduction  in PM10 concentration in 2024-25 with respect to 2017-18, 64 cities have shown reduction in PM10 levels by more than 20% with respect to base year 2017-18 and 25 of these cities have achieved a reduction of more than 40%. A total of 22 Cities have met NAAQS and have PM10 Concentrations less than 60 µg/m3.

(c): In  Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Pune, for preventing  dust resuspension on roads  and construction-heavy areas,  the municipal bodies are deploying vehicle-mounted dust suction and misting units and fog/mist cannons at traffic corridors and large project sites to suppress airborne dust,  while high-efficiency mechanical sweepers are  used to  remove settled road dust; for longer-term control at exposed or unpaved surfaces, agencies and contractors have been encouraged to do greening with grass and bushes to stabilize soil and reduce dependence on  repeated  water  sprinkling  in  line  with  NCAP  and  local  dust-control  guidelines  for construction and road works.

(d) to (e): It is the responsibility of the concerned State Governments  to ensure accountability of  civic  bodies  and  implementation  of  measures  through  municipal  bodies  and  private contractors. To monitor the implementation and progress  of the scheme, NCAP has put in place  structured  monitoring  mechanism    at  different  level  like  Steering,  Monitoring,  and Implementation Committees at the National level (Apex Committee under Chairmanship of Hon'ble Minister, EFCC), State (under Chairmanship of Chief Secretary), District/City levels (Implementation and Monitoring Committee) under the Chairmanship of District Collector/Municipal Commissioner and National Coordination Committee under Chairmanship of Hon'ble Home Minister. Further, NCAP has also been brought under the purview  of  State  and  District-level  DISHA  Committees,  enhancing  accountability  and convergence, The NCAP programme implementation is tracked through the PRANA - Portal for Regulation of Air Pollution in Non-Attainment Cities -a centralized web portal has been operationalised  for  monitoring  the  implementation  of  various  activities  under  NCAP.  It captures both physical progress and financial progress across all 130 cities (prana.cpcb.gov.in).

Allocation  and  release  of  performance-based  incentive  grants  to  cities  are  based  on  the achievement of reduction of annual PM10 targets under NCAP.

******