Air quality grant to million plus cities

Air quality grant to million plus cities

Subject: Environment

Section: Pollution

Context:

• Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in the Lok Sabha gave the  details of funds utilized under the Air Quality Grant sanctioned by 15th Finance Commission.

More on news:

• Under the 15th Finance Commission air quality performance grant, an amount of Rs. 16539 crores has been allocated to 42 Million Plus Cities (MPCs) (including 7 Urban Agglomerations (UAs)) during FY 2020-21 to FY 2025-26 to implement city action plans to take measures to improve air quality.

About funds:

• The details of funds utilized under the Air Quality Grant sanctioned by 15th Finance Commission to Million Plus Cities/ Urban Agglomeration as aimed by the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) for performance-based grants for improvement in air quality for the period 2020-21 to 2025-26, city-wise.
• The details of funds utilized under the 15th Finance Commission to support the implementation of City Specific Action Plans (CAPs) for improvement of Air Quality under the National Clean Air Programme along with the details for non-utilization of funds by non-attainment cities.
• The details of mobilization of City Specific Action Plans through the convergence of resources for
  • Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), 
  • Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), 
  • Smart City Mission, 
  • Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT), 
  • Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicle – II (FAME), and other schemes.
• 131 cities under NCAP have been requested to mobilize resources through convergence of various schemes for the implementation of city action plans.
• Action plans of all targeted cities under NCAP were approved under Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 (Urban) for processing of solid waste, construction and demolition waste, remediation of legacy waste and procurement of mechanical sweepers.
• 107 cities have availed resources from the AMRUT 2.0 for developing green spaces, parks and non-motorised urban transport.
• 13,11,681 number of electric vehicles have claimed the benefit under FAME II in 20 States/UTs.