New Delhi: A parliamentary committee pulled up the Union environment ministry on Tuesday for underutilisation of funds earmarked for a pollution control scheme.
Of the Rs 858 crore allocated to the ministry for the ‘Control of Pollution’ scheme in the financial year 2024-25, only Rs 7.22 crore, or less than 1% of the funds, were used, according to a report tabled in the parliament.
The department-related standing committee on science and technology, environment, forests and climate change asked the ministry to introspect and expressed shock over the ministry’s lack of action, the Indian Express reported.
“…the committee is shocked to note that amount to the tune of Rs 858 crore allocated for ‘Control of Pollution’, which is 27.44 percent of the annual RE (revised estimate) allocation of the ministry, remains unutilized since the approval for continuation of Control of Pollution Scheme till 2025-26 is, awaited, even at the fag end of the financial year,” the House panel stated in its report.
The ministry officials said that the funds had not been used as approval for the pollution control scheme’s continuation was awaited. They added that in the last two financial years, the entire budget allocated to the scheme had been used.
“At a time when the Ministry is required to address the grave and critical challenge of deteriorating air quality, the Ministry has not been able to decide the continuation of the concerned scheme, as a result of which not even 1% of the funds allocated for the scheme have been utilized so far. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Ministry needs to introspect and take a serious note of the reasons for this gross underutilisation,” the panel said.
The ‘Control of Pollution’ scheme was launched in 2018 to monitor air, water and noise pollution and their quality levels across the country. It is fully funded by the Union government and is part of the government’s flagship National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
The NCAP aims to reduce particulate matter 10 (PM10) in 131 cities by 2026. The ‘Control of Pollution’ scheme funds plans to clean dirty air in 82 ‘non-attainment’ cities which do not conform to air quality standards. Rs 3,072 crore has been allocated for these cities under the scheme from 2019-20 to 2025-26.
The committee also took note of the ministry’s annual spending and found the utilisation of funds inadequate. The environment ministry had spent only 54% or Rs 1,712.48 crore up to January 31. However, the ministry secretary informed the panel that 69% had been used.
