Shame - Delhi Govt. Sitting on INR385 crore (~64 million USD) for War on Air Pollution Since 2007, with 87% Unused

The Delhi government, in the last seven years, collected Rs 385 crore to fund its war on air pollution, but around 87% of this money has remained unspent, a planning department report has said. Read more @ India Today

Successive Delhi governments have not been serious about improving the notoriously bad quality of air that people breathe in the national capital. As pollution gradually peaked to alarming levels, governments sat on special 'air quality' funds, official documents accessed by Mail Today reveal.

The Delhi government, in the last seven years, collected Rs 385 crore to fund its war on air pollution, but around 87% of this money has remained unspent, a planning department report has said. These seven years include mostly Congress rule, besides a year of President's rule, and two brief stints of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

This, when air pollution has in the last 14 years doubled in the capital, the report says. The quantum of particulate matter 10 (particles smaller than 10 microns in diameter that lodge deep in lungs and blood cells) has gone up from 150 microgram per cubic meter in 2001 to 318 in 2014.

AAP, meanwhile, defended itself. "The blame for non-utilisation of the fund collected to fight air pollution lies with the previous Congress government. We would see how best we can use this resource. We have commissioned a study to IIT-Kanpur to draw-up a plan to improve Delhi's air quality which has found the world's worst by a WHO study," said a senior government official.