132 polluted cities selected under National Clean Air Program (NCAP).
A target has been set to reduce pollution in these cities by 20-30 percent by 2024.
New Delhi, 26 March: The agreement was signed between local bodies, technical institutes and state pollution control boards of 120 cities of the country on Friday.
Officials from Noida and Ghaziabad tied up with IIT Delhi at a program organized at the Ministry of Environment. Technical institutes including IITs will provide assistance to these cities on a draft to reduce pollution under the MoU.
With this, a committee is being constituted at the city, state and centre levels to monitor the program.
Union Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar was also present on the occasion of the signing of the MoU and spoke to the environment ministers of the states through video conferencing.
On this occasion, Prakash Javadekar said that it is an important day to sign the agreement under the National Clean Air Program. This is the new dimension of the fight against pollution.
On August 15, the Prime Minister announced to make 100 cities pollution free. Therefore, it is also an important scheme which has to be implemented properly.
He said that to reduce the number of vehicles in these cities, the central government is emphasizing on the introduction of e-bus and metro to promote public transport. But some states are not showing interest in buying buses. He said that 62 cities have to be given subsidy to start e-bus, but so far only 20 cities have started buying buses. Rest of the cities are delayed due to the tender process. It should not happen.
Environment Minister has written a letter to all states
Prakash Javadekar said that a letter has been written to all the states to expedite the purchase of e-buses. They have been told that if they delay the purchase of e-buses, the benefit of subsidy will be given to other states. Due to traffic problem in cities, there is more pollution. Therefore, bye roads with good roads should also be built. Metro work is going on fast in 15 cities. Under the Amrit Mission, assistance is being given by the Centre to the states for purchasing e-bus.
