CPCB defends diversion of funds meant to tackle air pollution for road works, NGT says will take a call

A bench of NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Srivastava, judicial member Justice Arun Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel said if the CPCB continues to divert funds from the Environment Protection Charge (EPC) and Environment Compensation (EC), then other municipal bodies may seek parity. The NGT made the observation while hearing a clutch of suo moto matters on air pollution and its impact on health.

The EPC funds are collected by levying a 1% charge on diesel vehicles with an engine capacity of 2000 CC or above registered in Delhi-NCR following an August 2016 order of the Supreme Court. The EPC is collected by the CPCB and is to be used for improving air quality in the region. The EC fund, on the other hand, is collected from the compensation imposed by the NGT and is also managed by the CPCB.

During past hearings, the NGT had expressed displeasure about the diversion of EPC and EC funds for road repair and pavement works in the GMC. It had expressed doubt about the permissibility to divert funds for activities such as road works and had stated that this may be “gross misuse and serious financial irregularity”.

In the last hearing in April, the NGT had directed the CPCB to submit the criteria and guidelines adopted, and reasons behind releasing EPC and EC funds to urban local bodies.

In response, the CPCB requested the NGT to permit continued use of EPC funds for supporting air quality improvement works such as “road construction, paving works, procurement of mechanical road sweeping machines, anti-smog guns etc”. The CPCB added that this funding support would only be considered in case such works are not being aided by other schemes.

It submitted in its affidavit that of the Rs 98.9 crore it had disbursed from the EPC funds, Rs 15.9 crore was approved for works on eight roads as part of on-ground pollution mitigation. The approval was given after ensuring that the GMC’s works were not funded under any other scheme, it said.

Further, the pollution watchdog submitted that the concept of funding support to urban local bodies on grounds of tackling air pollution was adopted in the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), 2019. This was done with a convergence model in mind and to provide gap funding for implementation of clean air city action plans under the NCAP, it said.

In the specific case of funding for the GMC, the CPCB said that the Commission on Air Quality Management and the EPC steering committee and project approval committee had approved the proposal.