From 1,000 new electric buses to subsidies for those who opt for clean fuels, the Delhi government’s ‘Green Budget’ included 26 schemes meant to reduce pollution.
In a first, the budget of the State government, presented on Thursday, included a section dedicated to environment-friendly schemes in the form of the ‘Green Budget’. Spread over four departments, the schemes included a “carrot and stick approach”, Finance Minister Manish Sisodia said. Those who adopt green measures would get incentives and those who continue to pollute would be penalised, he said. One of the big ticket measures would be the purchase of 1,000 electric buses by the Delhi Transport Corporation and cluster service. To incentivise cleaner vehicles, there would be a 50% concession on registration fee of factory-fitted CNG cars. To get vehicle owners to have regular Pollution Under Control checks, text messages would be sent.
Industrial units that switch to piped natural gas would get up to ₹1 lakh, while restaurants that replace coal tandoors with electricity or gas-based ones would get ₹5,000 per tandoor. Those who switch from diesel generator sets of 10KVA or more in capacity to clean fuel-based generators would get ₹30,000.
A study to find out the sources of pollution in real-time would be carried out with the help of the University of Washington. Government buildings would install 1,000 indoor display panels to show pollution levels.
Cleaner vehicles
Greenpeace campaigner Sunil Dahiya said, “It is promising to see such emphasis on air pollution in the Green Budget, but what remains is the implementation of these announcements.”
