‘Inappropriate’ use of central funds worth Rs 536 crores main cause of Kolkata’s air pollution misery, allege environmentalists

Kolkata continues to be choked with foul air despite getting a windfall for pollution control; environmentalists claim serving political interest is the trigger behind the city’s investment in non-priority sectors linked to air pollution control.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has received over 536 crores from union government since 2019 to combat air pollution in the city but Kolkata continues to be choked with high pollution and has recently been labelled second highest on toxic PM 2.5 pollutant count after Delhi within 100 odd most populous global cities; according to a global report.

PM 2.5 pollutant count is considered critical as they can penetrate within the deep crevices of lungs triggering a range of health problems including the fatal ones.

Environmentalists alleged that the funds were used inappropriately and was spent on non-priority areas, and not critical areas like vehicular pollution control which are likely to have wider political ramification; and hence the investment, yet, could not trigger the desired improvement in the air quality of the city.

State and civic body officials accept that the steps taken so far have proven inadequate to cut the air pollution level significantly in the city – which is about 40 percent above national limit, and need to prioritise actions on key areas like the transport sector.

“I will seek a detailed report from the pollution control board and try to undertake appropriate steps to fix the problem” said Manas Bhuniya, environment minister to this journalist

According to the global study report prepared by US based Health Effects Institute (HEI) – Air Quality and Health in Cities – city’s PM 2.5 concentration in 2019 – the year being considered for the study – was 84 micrograms per cubic meter of air; more than double of national standard of 40 micrograms and nearly 17 times above the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard of 5 micrograms.

However, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) considers reduction of PM 10 – fine respirable particulate – as a benchmark of improving air pollution status; as sufficient infrastructures for measuring PM 2.5 do not exist throughout the country.

However even in PM 10 level; Kolkata has not shown much improvement over the last three years as its annual average has remained static around 100 micrograms. In fact, during 2021-22, as per NCAP, the concentration has increased to 106 micrograms compared to 99 micrograms the year before. The national annual limit is 60 micrograms.

“Under NCAP and then 15th Financial Commission, KMC has received 536.5 crores from 2019-20 to 2021-22. As per the NCAP norms, the money went directly to KMC and only a small part of it was allotted to the state pollution control board through them” said a senior union government official to this journalist.

KMC officials claimed that they have been working as per the air – action plan prepared for the city being pivoted by the environment department; but admitted having inadequate capacity to handle such huge funds and actions to counter pollution in the city.

“We could use about 50 to 60 percent of the funds so far as we do not have adequate infrastructure. However, as per the advice of environment department, we have so far spent funds for making road development particularly making them pothole free, bio-mining of legacy waste in Dhapa, setting up of two construction and demolition waste recycling units in city, organize water sprinkling; and we will also support at source separation of solid waste in city to be initiated soon” pointed out an official.

KMC has also purchased about 170 new vehicles to replace its fleet of 15 years old vehicles; and its sources pointed out that so far it has invested around “60 to 70 crores” in building up the charging stations for electrical vehicles and a few CNG buses.

“While the steps pursued by KMC so far are important, what about the priority areas like controlling vehicular pollution and taking steps to replace old polluting commercial vehicles. KMC should not use the fund in covering its other activities and rather prioritise its action on urgent air pollution related areas” stated environment activist Subhas Datta.

Datta also pointed out that despite various announcements, scattering of construction waste in the open covering footpaths and even part of the roads; as well as burning of garbage are routine sites within greater Kolkata.

“It’s strange that such a huge amount of public money was spent apparently to counter the city’s air pollution; and no public consultation was held. We demand the government and KMC to inform the public how they are spending the money and organize widespread public consultations on the issue” opined Naba Dutta, an environmentalist and secretary of green platform Sabuj Mancha.

Environment experts have also highlighted the ambiguity in the city’s strategy of pollution reduction. “In one side there is, quite rightly, an effort to introduce large scale electrical vehicles; on the other side trams, the oldest electric vehicle in the city that has made a comeback all over the world, has been pushed towards a natural death through complete apathy. Moreover, there is still no integrated public transport system; that can significantly reduce the pollution load”, explained the experts.

“Actually phasing out of old commercial vehicles including goods vehicles is politically inconvenient and hence has been put into backburner as it involves huge number of people ; and hence, too much politically inconvenient to be talked in public not only the party in power, but also for the oppositions” pointed out a researcher on city’s air pollution. “On the other hand, doling out freebies like gases in the name of pollution control works in favour of the politicians”, he further added.

“It’s a fact that based on the NEERI report we earlier asked KMC to prioritise actions on construction, road dust counter and water sprinkling and waste burning”, accepted a senior environment department official. However, since then, the NEERI report has come under scanner as it is found to be inconsistent with reports prepared by other premiere institutes; and the state board is actually planning to undertake a new study on the city’s air pollution sources.

“This year we are asking KMC to focus on transport, solid fuel and stubble burning” said the green department official; accepting that earlier actions were proven inadequate to cut the pollution to a significant level.

“City should plan for targeted actions on sources including transportation, industries and waste” observed Pallavi Pant, a senior scientist of HEI to The Plurals.

Anumita Roy Choudhury, an air pollution expert with Center for Science and Environment (CSE), observed that “Kolkata with the second highest PM2.5 exposures needs the most stringent time bound multi sector action to meet the clean air target”.