Funds Misallocation in India's National Clean Air Programme

A new report reveals that nearly two-thirds of funds allocated to 131 cities under India's National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) have been used for dust management, while less than one percent has been targeted at industrial pollution control. The programme aims for significant air quality improvements by 2026.

Nearly two-thirds of the funds allocated to 131 cities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) have been used for dust management, while less than one percent has been utilized to combat air pollution from the industrial sector, a new report revealed on Friday.

Launched in 2019, the NCAP is India's first national effort to set clean air targets, aiming for a 20-30 percent reduction in PM10 pollution by 2024, with 2017 as the base year. The revised target is a 40 percent reduction by 2026, using 2019-20 as the base year. The report, titled ''National Clean Air Programme: An Agenda for Reform'', by the independent think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), also said that only 64 percent of the total funds given to the 131 cities have been spent so far.

"While NCAP's objectives and aims have always been commendable, we are finding that attention and investments under it are largely focused on dust control, and not on emission-spewing combustion sources such as industries or vehicles. As much as 64 percent of the funds utilized under NCAP and the 15th Finance Commission have been spent on road dust mitigation," said CSE Director General Sunita Narain.

According to the report, only 0.61 percent of the total funds have been used to tackle industrial pollution, 12.63 percent for vehicular pollution, and 14.51 percent for biomass burning. Among the cities covered under NCAP, 82 receive direct funding from the Union environment ministry, while 42 cities and seven urban agglomerations with populations over a million get funding from the 15th Finance Commission.

The report detailed that only Rs 6,806 crore (64 percent) of the total Rs 10,566 crore allocated to the 131 cities since the programme's inception has been utilized as of May 3. The 82 cities utilized Rs 831.42 crore of the total Rs 1,616.47 crore allocated, while the 49 cities receiving funding under the 15th Finance Commission utilized Rs 5,974.73 crore of the total Rs 8,951 crore allocated.

Anumita Roychowdhury, CSE's executive director, said that while dust control has become the focus of NCAP, PM2.5, a more harmful fraction of particulate pollution largely emitted from combustion sources, has been neglected. Roychowdhury said annual changes in PM10 levels can be significantly influenced by meteorological factors, dust storms, and heatwaves, rather than just policy actions.

''This may not adequately reflect the impact of measures across all key sectors. PM10 monitoring needs to be source-specific. Making PM2.5 improvement the benchmark to drive action is crucial, as PM2.5 is a more relevant health indicator for assessing air quality improvement,'' she said.

(With inputs from agencies.)