Assam, 2 other NE states fail to utilize NCAP funds

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Significantly, three Northeastern states, including Assam, failed to utilize funds amounting to Rs 63 crore released by the Centre under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). This failure to utilize the funds is significant, as air pollution has emerged as a matter of concern.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019, and it is a long-term, time-bound, national-level strategy to address air pollution in 130 non-attainment and million-plus cities/urban agglomerations in 24 states/UTs. City Specific Clean Air Action Plans have been prepared by all 130 cities under NCAP to implement air quality improvement measures in the respective cities. These plans target air pollution sources like soil & road dust, vehicular emissions, waste burning, construction & demolition activities and industrial pollution.

According to statistics of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), funds amounting to Rs 199.81 crore were allocated by the Centre for the states of Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland from 2019-20 to 2025-26 under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). Of this amount, the Centre released Rs 152.01 crore for the three NE states.

Of the Rs 152.01 crore released, the states of Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland utilized Rs 89.01 crore, leaving Rs 63 crore as unspent funds under NCAP.

The Centre allocated Rs 156.52 crore for Assam in the period between 2019-20 and 2025-26. Out of the Rs 156.52 crore allocated for Assam, the Centre released Rs 108.72 crore. With the state utilizing Rs 64.26 crore, Rs 44.46 crore was left as unspent NCAP funds.

Apart from Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland left Rs 5.75 crore and Rs 12.79 crore, respectively, as unspent funds.

MoEFCC has highlighted that focused actions by 130 cities under NCAP have shown positive results, with 103 cities showing a reduction in Particulate Matter 10 (PM10) in 2024-25 with respect to 2017-18 as the base year. 64 cities have shown a reduction in PM10 levels by more than 20% with respect to base year 2017-18, and 25 of these cities have achieved a reduction of more than 40%. A total of 22 cities have met National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and have PM10 concentrations less than 60 µg/m³.

The NCAP is India’s flagship initiative, launched in 2019 by the MoEFCC, to tackle severe air pollution, focusing on source-specific interventions, stakeholder engagement, and city-level action plans to achieve NAAQS.

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