NEW DELHI: A report by Centre for Policy Research (CPR), which analysed the fund utilisation of pollution control boards and committees in 10 states, says a majority of these bodies reported a surplus from 2018-19 to 2020-21, but many are struggling to spend the entire amount collected through fees and other sources.
According to the report, released on Thursday, the average fund utilisation rate across the 10 boards is 48%, but Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) did not even spend that much from 2018-19 to 2020-21. In 2018-19, the board spent 32% of its funds, only 28.5% in 2019-20, and 47.8% in 2020-21.
The report, ‘State of India’s Pollution Control Boards: Are they in the green?’, states DPCC has not spent on any infrastructure development during this period and have mostly spent on pay and allowances in all these years, followed by uncategorised expenditures, other expenditures, and legal and professional charges. The revenue sources for the Delhi board were mainly through fees, including no-objection certificates, consent to operate and consent to establish, and also from interests and other receipts.
However, the report says Delhi received no funding from the central agencies during the whole period. “All states in our study received funding from Central Pollution Control Board and other central government agencies in at least one of the study years, with the exception of DPCC,” it states.
The report adds, “Funds are allocated under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to invest in activities for improvement of air quality in non-attainment cities. NCAP was launched in January 2019. In the case of Delhi, the funds were disbursed late in 2021-22, so there has not been sufficient time for DPCC to spend the funds.”
Bhargav Krishna, Fellow at CPR, said, “While Delhi has made some progress in reducing air pollution over the past few years, DPCC needs consistent and substantial support from the central and Delhi governments to ensure that it can plug the gaps in technical capacity, manpower and infrastructure that it is lacking.”
Krishna added, “A future free from air pollution in Delhi will rest largely on the capability of DPCC to drive action, and re-envisioning it as a forward-looking regulator will require providing it the financial and functional autonomy it requires to do so.”
No response was received from DPCC or Delhi government on the matter.
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Priyangi Agarwal writes on environmental and climate change issue...
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