Delhi Budget could have done more to fight pollution, say experts

The Times of India , Monday, March 13, 2017
Correspondent : Jayashree Nandi
NEW DELHI: Despite severe air pollution levels in recent years, the Delhi budget for 2017-18 doesn't reflect any urgency to address the problem. The globally accepted measures such as developing walking, cycling and public transport infrastructure have found little or no mention this time. Even worse, many of last year's budget promises are far from being implemented.

Experts said this budget could have introduced several effective air pollutioncontrol measures such as increasing the cess on every litre of diesel from the current 25 paise per litre. This would have strengthened the air ambience fund meant to finance air pollution control policies in the city. The extra money could have been utilised to bolster public transport and last-mile connectivity, they said. Developing pedestrian infrastructure, and repairing and laying out cycling tracks could have also been beneficial.

"The budget has earmarked Rs 5,506 crore for both transport infrastructure and public transport. But the bus transport has got just about Rs 100 crore — less than 2% of the proposed spending — for construction of depots and buying vehicles. How can the city ever hope to meet the Delhi Master Plan target of 80% public transport ridership by 2020? Even with the full Metro network, only 20% of the travel demand is met," said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, head of air pollution and transport programme at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

"The new transport budget is all about high-speed elevated corridors for vehicles to zig-zag through the sky. The Delhi government now plans to move vertically up — exactly what global cities are trying to undo," she added.

The only silver lining is the target of installing 1,000MW of solar photovoltaic projects in the next five years and incorporation of a generation-based incentive (GBI) of Rs 2 per unit per kW in the budget. However, the draft policy was announced in February 2016 but not much has happened since then. "The tenders haven't come out yet. Nobody has applied for GBI either. It's great that the government has announced its target in the budget but the policy was finalised only recently. Why is this taking so long? The Delhi government should create awareness on GBI to push big consumers," said Pujarini Sen, renewable energy campaigner at Greenpeace India.

Many experts are also wary of the government listing waste-to-energy plants in the same head as solar power. While solar is a definite step towards clean energy, the air pollution potential of waste-to-energy plants could be high in the absence of proper control systems, they said.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/budget-could-have-done-more-to-fight-pollution/articleshow/57610272.cms
 


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