Union Budget 2021: Govt earmarks ₹2,217 crore for tackling air pollution
While it has reduced the amount allocated to the climate change action plan by ₹10 crore and to Project Tiger by ₹50 crore, the amount for National Coastal Mission has been almost doubled from ₹103 crore in the last fiscal to ₹200 crore in 2021-22.
The Centre on Monday earmarked a sum of ₹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 8% for 2021-22
While it has reduced the amount allocated to the climate change action plan by ₹10 crore and to Project Tiger by ₹50 crore, the amount for National Coastal Mission has been almost doubled from ₹103 crore in the last fiscal to ₹200 crore in 2021-22.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech, allocated ₹2869.93 crore for the ministry, out of which ₹470 crore were allotted to control pollution -- ₹10 crore more than the last budget.
In addition to this amount, the minister also announced a sum of ₹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 ₹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 ₹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 ₹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.
In the last budget session, the climate change action plan was allotted ₹40 crore which has been reduced to ₹30 crore for the year 2021-22.
The budgetary allocation for National Mission for Green India has been reduced from ₹311 crore in the last financial year to ₹290 crore this time with the national afforestation programme alone being allotted ₹235 crore, lower than last year's amount of ₹246 crore.
In the area of wildlife conservation, the allocation for government-initiated projects -- Project Tiger and Project Elephant -- saw some changes, with the former getting ₹50 crore less and the other being shrunk by ₹2 crore.
The allocation for Project Tiger saw a reduction of ₹100 crore in two years. From ₹350 crore allotted to it in 2019-20, it was reduced to ₹300 crore in the last fiscal, and now the allocation stands at ₹250 crore.
The budget for Project Elephant, which was launched to conserve jumbos across the country, has been reduced to ₹33 crore from ₹35 crore last year.
The budget for the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body under the ministry responsible for tiger census and conservation of wild cats, saw a minor reduction of ₹50 lakh from ₹10.5 crore to ₹10 crore.
The budget for the National Coastal Mission was nearly doubled with the government allotting it ₹200 crore from ₹103 crore allotted to it last year. In 2019-20, the NCM was allotted ₹95 crore.
Under the National Coastal Mission, the environment ministry is responsible for ensuring livelihood security of coastal communities, including fisher folks, conserving, protecting the coastal stretches and promoting sustainable development based on scientific principles.
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