Not even 1% of Rs 858 crore allotted to environment ministry for pollution control scheme utilised: Parliamentary panel | India News

New Delhi: Amidst the “very serious” air pollution scenario in the country, a parliamentary panel on Tuesday said that there was not even 1% of Rs 858 crore, which was allocated. Ministry of Environment For a central pollution control scheme, the fag of 2024–25 financial year has been used in the end.
The main objective of the scheme is to monitor air quality across India and to take proper air pollution recreation measures besides monitoring water quality and noise levels in the country.
Out of the allocation of 2024-25 of Rs 858 crore (revised estimate) for “control of pollution”, it was surprised to see this out of the allocation of 2024-25, till January 31, an amount of only Rs 7.22 crore was spent, “Panel-science and technology, environment, forests, forests and Parliamentary Standing Committee on climate change said in their report on Tuesday.
However, the ministry told the panel that most of the funds in the scheme for the financial year 2024-25 cannot be used yet because by FY 2025-26, approval is awaited for the continuity of the ‘Control of Pollution’ scheme.
This said, “The plan for disbursement and money use is already applicable and will be executed as soon as the approval is received.”
The BJP is not convinced of the cause of the reason for the Rajya Sabha member Bhubaneswar Kalita, however, the cause of the lower the fund, and asked the ministry to introspect and took a serious note of the reasons for this “gross weakness”.
The panel also shocked that the amount (Rs 858 crore), which is more than 27% of the annual allocation of the ministry, remained unused since approval for the continuation of the scheme by 2025-26, “FAG of the financial year also at the end of the financial year” was awaited.
Saying that the scenario of air pollution in the country is really very serious and affecting everyone, the panel said, “At a time when the ministry needs to address a serious and important challenge of deteriorating air quality, the ministry has not decided the continuity of the concerned plan, resulting in 1% of the funds.”
The panel also said that although Delhi has been in the news due to its “sometimes air quality”, other cities of the country are not far behind and are experiencing high ‘air quality index’ (AQI) levels.
“As a result of increasing environmental pollution in the country, not only many pollution related diseases and health conditions occur, but also affect our ecology negatively.”