New Delhi: During the first meeting of the NCAP’s National Apex Committee on Friday, the environment ministry released a data and said that several states failed to utilise the funds provided by the Centre under the national clean air programme (NCAP) to control air pollution in their respective states.
A total of ₹375.44 crore was provided under NCAP to 114 cities from 2018-19 to 2020-21, and ₹290 crores was allocated to 82 cities for 2021-22. The Centre will be providing a further ₹700 crores for the 2021-26 period.
But utilisation of the ₹375.44 crores given in the past two years has been low by most states, according to the data, with 22 states under NCAP collectively utilising only 33.53% of the amount.
Bihar and Chandigarh utilised 77% and 82% respectively of the fund, but Punjab and Uttar Pradesh utilised only 17%, Chhattisgarh 21%, Andhra Pradesh 10%, Assam 4%, Himachal Pradesh 2%, and Jammu & Kashmir 1%. The utilisation by Uttarakhand and West Bengal was 53% and 58% respectively.
