New Delhi: Criticising the Modi government for the “public health crisis” emerging from rampant air pollution in the country, the Congress on Sunday (July 21) demanded that necessary steps must be taken in the upcoming Union budget to address the issue.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a statement posted on X, said that a study by the Centre for Science and Environment in Delhi has “evaluated the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) and brought to light the policy chaos that has resulted in this public health crisis.”
Alleging misdirection of funds and under-funded policies, Ramesh said, “The current budget of the NCAP, including the 15th Finance Commission’s grants, is about Rs 10,500 crores – spread across 131 cities! The program is therefore desperately underfunded – and yet, and of this meagre amount, only 64% of the funds were used.
Poor policy making has misdirected the available resources. NCAP’s performance assessment – and therefore interventions – are heavily focused on PM 10 (particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micro metres or less) rather than on PM 2.5 (diameter of 2.5 micro metres or less), which is far more hazardous.”
India’s air pollution crisis is a result of policy failure. Our statement on the failed National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and necessary steps moving forward: pic.twitter.com/d5IFNuRInX
Advertisement— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) July 21, 2024
He said that the funds used for road dust mitigation was far greater than what was allocated to controlling combustion-linked emissions from industries, vehicles and biomass burning – that are “far more dangerous for human health”.
“…64% of the funds utilized were spent on road dust mitigation – much more than on controlling combustion-linked emissions from industries (0.61% of funds), vehicles (12.63% of funds), and biomass burning (14.51% of funds). These emissions are far more dangerous for human health,” the statement said, adding that “out of 131 cities under NCAP, most do not even have data to track their air pollution. Of 46 cities which have data, only 8 cities have met the NAP’s low target, while 22 cities actually saw air pollution get worse.”
Ramesh said that seeing the public health consequences of air pollution, a complete revamp of both the Air Pollution (Control and Prevention) Act and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) was required.
Listing down the steps that the Union government should take to address this problem, Ramesh said that the NCAP must be made a Rs 25,000 crore program while the city-wise budget needs to be increased by 10-20 times the current amount.
“NCAP must adopt measurement of PM 2.5 levels as the yardstick for performance. [It] must reorient its focus to key sources of emissions – burning of solid fuels, vehicular emissions, and industrial emissions,” the statement said.
The party also demanded an enforcement mechanism and legal backing for the NCAP along with data monitoring capacity for every Indian city and not just in “non-attainment cities”. States that have fallen short of NAAQS for over five years are classified as non-attainment cities.
“NCAP must adopt a regional/airshed approach for air quality control – municipal and state authorities must have the governance architecture and resources required to collaborate across jurisdictions,” Ramesh argued.
“Air pollution norms for coal power plants must be enforced immediately. All power plants must install a Fluoride Gas Desulfurizer (FGD) by the end of 2024. The National Green Tribunal’s independence must be restored, and the anti-people environmental law amendments made in the last 10 years must be rolled back, he added.
