VIJAYAWADA: The State government will provide Rs 639 crore as gap funding for implementation of action plans to reduce air pollution in the State over the next five years. Of the total amount, Rs 274 crore has been earmarked for Visakhapatnam and Rs 232 crore for Vijayawada.Out of Rs 639 crore, Rs 506 crore will be provided out of 25th Finance Commission grants, and and the remaining funds will be spent from National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
As part of the action plan, massive environment awareness campaign will be undertaken involving youth, communities and people from various sectors. Civil society organisations will also actively participate AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB) chairman AK Parida, addressing industry delegates at a virtual summit on ‘environment, health and safety (EHS)’ on Thursday, said Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the board to prepare an action plan to reduce air pollution in 13 municipal towns, which are the headquarters of their respective district and are a part of the 132 non-attainment cities in the country.
Andhra University will assist Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Rajahmundry, Kakinada and Eluru; IIT-Tirupati will assist Vijayawada, Guntur, Ongole, Nellore and Tirupati; and National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), Tirupati will assist Anantapur, Kadapa and Kurnool in undertaking source apportionment studies, identifying the hotspots and carrying out capacity studies.
The pollution control board appealed to all the industry delegates to contribute part of their corporate social responsibility funds to the Clean Air Andhra Pradesh (CAAP) programme and be a part of the eco-system restoration process in providing clean air to the people in the municipal towns that are closer to their industries and factories.