The Centre on Monday earmarked a sum of Rs 2,217 crore for tackling air pollution in 42 urban centres, even as it shrunk the budgetary allocation for the environment ministry from the last fiscal by nearly eight percent for 2021-22
While it has reduced the amount allocated to the climate change action plan by Rs 10 crore and to Project Tiger by Rs 50 crore, the amount for National Coastal Mission has been almost doubled from Rs 103 crore in the last fiscal to Rs 200 crore in 2021-22.
Union Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, in her budget speech, allocated Rs 2869.93 crore for the ministry, out of which Rs 470 crore were allotted to control pollution — Rs 10 crore more than the last budget.
In addition to this amount, the minister also announced a sum of Rs 2,217 crore for combating air pollution in 42 urban centres.
“To tackle the burgeoning problem of air pollution, I propose to provide an amount of Rs 2,217 crores for 42 urban centres with a million-plus population in this budget,” Sitharaman said.
For the first time, a budget provision of Rs 20 crore has been made for the newly formed statutory body Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for the national capital region and adjoining areas.
The Rs 407 crore for ‘Control of Pollution’ includes financial assistance provided to pollution control Boards/Committees and funding to National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), launched in January 2019.